World Cup 'Fever?!!!'

11 June 2010, 06:00

As many of us settle down with a take away to watch the world cup this weekend HEART's found out almost 80 food outlets in the county have the lowest possible rating for hygiene.

A new service that allows you to check the official star rating of your local pub, restaurant or take away has revealed that almost 80 food outlets in Northamptonshire have been given ZERO out of 5 stars.

The ratings given on 'Scores on the doors' are based on things like health and hygiene, managament, and structure of the premises.

A ZERO star food outlet is described as having: "A general failure to comply. Little or no appreciation of food saftey."

But Damien Wilkins, who's the Health Protection Manager at Corby Borough Council, says it's not as bad as it sounds:

"If a food outlets a zero star rating, they will not have siginificant risk in place, i.e. they have not got major infestations of rats and mice, they have not got major issues that we as an environmental health officers could walk away from. So even though they are a zero star rating, they are failing, but that doesn't mean we are exposing the public to significant risk."

"Although there's not a significant risk as in we don't think someone will go in there and get food poisoning, they are failing, and so subsequently you do need to put that in context of where you want to eat."

To check out how you local favourite fares click here.