A RECENT study has shown that food hygiene standards within restaurants, cafes, pubs and takeaways in the South Ayrshire Council area are rated as some of the highest in the country.

South Ayrshire came second in an inspection of 32 council areas in Scotland.

They hold this post with a fantastic 99.8 per cent of 601 food outlets, passing their food hygiene inspection with flying colours. All establishments offering food are required to display their given rating, and the outcome of their inspection can be vital to their success.

Inspections are carried out by the local authority under the Food Hygiene Information Scheme, with the Food Standards Agency, whilst obtaining the data from visits.

Linda Firth, Director of LoveMyVouchers.co.uk (who carried out the survey), said: “We conducted this study to raise awareness about food hygiene standards.

“When people only have a limited budget for eating out, they want to be sure they are spending their hard earned money in restaurants and cafes that care about food safety.”

The study also found that a miniscule 0.2 per cent of eateries in South Ayrshire were given the ‘Improvement Required’ rating.
East Ayrshire were also placed within the top five.

LoveMyVouchers.co.uk found that Highland, City of Edinburgh and Moray were listed as the three worst council areas for food hygiene ratings. You can view the study details at www.lovemyvouchers.co.uk/lifestyle/food-hygiene-study-scotland/, data has been taken from the Food Standards Agency Government website at http://ratings.food.gov.uk.