A number of restaurants across Trafford have been displaying inaccurate food hygiene ratings, both in their windows and online.
Three eateries, with hygiene scores ranging from zero to two, have been displaying incorrect scores of four or five.
One restaurant, PaPa Don in Stretford, displayed a five-star rating in its window – despite its most recent hygiene rating being zero.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA), the government department that deals with food safety and food hygiene, issues ratings to all businesses that serve food across the UK.
An FSA rating of four or five means “good” or “very good” hygiene.
Two or below means improvement is needed – a score of one calls for “major” improvement, and zero means “urgent improvement is required”.
The false ratings were discovered through an investigation for Mancunian Matters.
We visited the three restaurants on October 19th and 29th and found that they were displaying much higher ratings than their correct FSA ratings.
When the food hygiene inspector visited Korean and Thai café PaPa Don, they found mouse droppings in the kitchen, storeroom and behind the bar.
They also found PaPa Don were not keeping pork in a cold enough fridge, and over-diluting their antibacterial cleaner.
There was also a build-up of grease and food debris underneath kitchen equipment, and grease dripping around their extraction ducting.
The hygiene inspector told PaPa Don they must arrange for a pest control company to visit.
When we rang PaPa Don for comment, a staff member said they couldn’t give the manager’s contact details out and hung up the phone.
Halal takeaway Cluck ‘A’ Rito, also in Stretford, displayed a rating of four instead of their real rating of two.
The incorrect food hygiene label was displayed in the centre of their door.
When approached for comment, the manager, Kuraid, said he was “not too sure” what Cluck ‘A’ Rito’s food hygiene rating was as he was not present during the most recent inspection.
He then said it was “about” four stars – which is the rating displayed on the door.
Kuraid said an appeal had been put in about the restaurant’s food hygiene rating “not too long ago”, and that the rating should be updated “on the system in the next couple of weeks”.
Panda Mama, a Chinese takeaway also based in Sale, displayed a false hygiene rating of five at the bottom of their website – when they only earned a one.
Their food hygiene report reads: “Deep cleaning required throughout.”
They were also instructed to complete an allergen matrix – a chart listing the allergens in all their menu items – and to apply date labels on prepared food in their fridges and freezers.
The report also says: “Complete level 2 food hygiene training and allergen awareness.”
Harvey Lin, the owner of Panda Mama, said he is currently unable to change the displayed rating due to a dispute over fees between the website designer and the restaurant’s previous owner.
Lin said he has talked to the previous owner about the issue, and that going forward he might be able to delete the incorrect rating from the website.
Two days ago, Lin said: “All the necessary steps have been done to meet the food safety standard and it is ready for inspection.”
FSA said: “Businesses in England should only display their current rating, otherwise they may be committing an offence under trading standards legislation.
“There may be a reason for a difference between a hygiene rating displayed online and one displayed in-store.
“For example, the business is appealing the rating or the local authority is in the process of updating a new rating.”
A spokesperson for Trafford Council agreed that displaying an incorrect food hygiene rating could be an offence.
They said: “Any allegations that a food business is displaying the incorrect food hygiene rating will be investigated by our Environmental Health team.”
The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH), an environmental health body, called for the UK government to make displaying food hygiene ratings mandatory in England earlier this month.
CIEH said: “This key information would help consumers make informed decisions about where they eat and purchase food and compel food businesses to display their ratings.”
Featured image: Chris Patel
