A NUMBER of Bury businesses currently have a zero rating for food hygiene – meaning ‘urgent improvement necessary’.

There are also 46 businesses with the second lowest rating of one – meaning ‘major improvement necessary’.

The good news for the borough is that more businesses were given the highest rating of five – meaning ‘very good’ – than businesses achieving all the other ratings combined.

503 food outlets achieved the highest marks, 88 were rated as four for ‘good’, 30 rated as three for ‘generally satisfactory’ and 8 rated as two for ‘improvement necessary’.

Each business is given their hygiene rating by the Food Standards Agency when it is inspected by a food safety officer from Bury Council.

The scheme is run by local authorities in England, Northern Ireland and Wales and applies to restaurants, pubs, cafes, takeaways, hotels, supermarkets and other food shops.

The food safety officer inspecting the business checks how well the business is meeting the law by looking at:- How hygienically the food is handled – how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored.

The condition of the structure of the buildings – the cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and other facilities.

How the business manages and records what it does to make sure food is safe is also considered.

Businesses with a zero rating according to the Food Standards Agency website food.gov.uk were:-

Alis Kebabish, 96 Rochdale Road, Bury, BL9 7AY, inspected in October 2014.

Zaidy's, 8 Parkhills Road, Bury, BL9 9AX, inspected November 2014.

Bury Times is seeking statements from the named food businesses.

To find out the rating of a food business in Bury, visit ratings.food.gov.uk

This article was amended on September 21 to reflect LA Pizzas' re-insepction, which now has a rating of four.