Small businesses and even Sainsbury’s have been caught displaying inaccurate food hygiene ratings – with a food safety lawyer warning the issue was rife across the country.
Food Standards Agency (FSA) ratings are based on official inspections which look at how businesses prepare and store food, as well as the cleanliness and physical condition of their premises.
A rating out of five is then given, with three meaning hygiene standards are ‘generally satisfactory’ and anything under that requiring improvement.
However, a string of East London businesses ranging from independent restaurants and newsagents to a Sainsbury’s supermarket have been caught misleading customers with inaccurate ratings in what experts say is a nationwide problem.
When confronted by the BBC, some of the firms denied deliberately deceiving customers, while others wrongly insisted the rating on display was in fact accurate despite it contradicting the official figure on the FSA’s website.
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Reporters from the corporation’s London investigations team visited dozens of food retailers in the London Borough of Waltham Forest during July and August after tip-offs that fake food hygiene ratings were rife in the local area.
Using hidden cameras, they filmed the food hygiene ratings on display and the businesses’ response when confronted about showing an incorrect score.
Among the outlets exposed for misrepresenting its rating was a Sainsbury’s Local on the High Road in Leyton, with a sign in the branch giving a rating of five despite it actually being zero – meaning urgent improvements were needed.
The FSA inspection revealed serious pest control issues, with mouse droppings found in the store alongside widespread filth and grime.
Inspectors also found that allergen labelling was not available for some products, which could present a risk to customers with food allergies.
Sainsbury’s admitted that incorrect information had been displayed both in the store and on the branch’s website and said it had been removed. The store’s rating has now improved to three, meaning it is ‘generally satisfactory’.
Reporters found a total of 27 businesses in Waltham Forest that were showing incorrect ratings and confronted all of them.
Nadeem Halal Meat & Grocery in Leyton was displaying a rating of three in July and August when the shop’s rating was actually zero.
The manager told the BBC: ‘Don’t worry, never a problem, never nothing.’
Nearby Café Mondial showed a rating of four when in reality it was one, meaning ‘major improvement’ was needed.
Nadeem Halal Meat & Grocery in Leyton was displaying a rating of three in July and August when the shop’s rating was actually zero. The manager told the BBC: ‘Don’t worry, never a problem, never nothing’
Scenes filmed by an undercover reporter showing cuts of meat on display (left) and what was reported to be a mouse trap (right)
The manager at Pizza & BBQ Express in Lea reportedly claimed the business had a five-star rating when at the time it was zero.
And at Midland Supermarket, in Leyton, the BBC reported that a five-star rating was prominently displayed even though the store’s actual score was one.
The manager was reported as saying: ‘Five means it’s excellent. One is low. Zero is the lowest. Five is top class.’
Food safety lawyer Jon Payne warned the problem of stores displaying inaccurate hygiene ratings was not confined to East London.
‘This happens throughout the country,’ he said.
‘I and many other lawyers come across this every few months at work.
‘And it’s not just limited to small establishments, it can happen in bigger premises as well.’
Food premises in England are encouraged but not legally required to display a food hygiene sticker.
In Wales and Northern Ireland it is mandatory to display one. Scotland runs a separate scheme.
Café Mondial claimed to MailOnline it had not been told to remove the sticker with its previous rating but said it had now taken it down.
Nadeem Halal Meat & Grocery apologised and said it had retrained staff.
Pizza & BBQ Express could not be contacted for comment by MailOnline.
Among the outlets exposed for misrepresenting its rating was a Sainsbury’s Local on the High Road in Leyton, with a sign in the branch giving a rating of five despite it actually being zero
At Midland Supermarket, in Leyton, the BBC reported that a five-star rating was prominently displayed even though the store’s actual score was one
Midland Supermarket called the report ‘fake news’. The FCA website currently gives its rating as one.
Sainsbury’s told the BBC: ‘Food safety is our highest priority and the vast majority of our stores have a five-star food standards rating, which we proudly display to our customers.
‘We’ve removed an outdated rating sticker at our Leyton High Road Local store and reviewed our procedures to ensure this doesn’t happen again.’
MailOnline has contacted Sainsbury’s for further comment.
One pub landlady threatened to call police after a visit from a hygiene inspector revealed a series of red flags, it emerged last month.
The Bull’s Head, on Denby Common in Derbyshire, was slapped with a hygiene rating of zero after being visited by inspectors on July 23.
The report found that a staff member was repeatedly seen ‘bottom scratching’ while working with food.
Notes from the report also claimed that staff were claimed to have been wiping their hands on clothes to clean them while preparing food.
The inspection team also noted that there was no sanitiser or disinfectant provided to clean food equipment and hand contact surfaces, along with no single-use paper towels provided for staff to dry their hands after washing.
The outside of Nadeem Halal Meat & Grocery, which offers ‘daily fresh meat’
Nearby Café Mondial showed a rating of four when in reality it was one, meaning ‘major improvement’ was needed
An excerpt from the report by the officer present at the time read: ‘When I informed you that food production must stop, you told me several times to leave, and threatened that if I did not leave, you would call the police to have me removed from the premises.
A spokesman for WJS Group, the pub group which owns the establishment, said: ‘We take food hygiene extremely seriously and acted as soon as the matter was brought to our attention.
‘We instructed food to stop being served and subsequently removed the former landlady and closed the pub. We have now recruited a couple to take on the Bull’s Head and will fully comply with environmental health procedures.
‘We are confident of achieving a high rating on the environmental health team’s next visit and look forward to welcoming customers back.’