A PADGATE Indian restaurant has been given a shocking score of zero on its most recent food hygiene inspection.

This is the only current score of zero in Warrington and specifies that the Indian requires urgent improvement if they wish to remain open.

Anika, on Marsh House Lane in Padgate, received this score last month.

It specified that the restaurant’s management of food safety, as well as their hygienic food handling, required urgent improvement.

The cleanliness and conditions of the facilities of the building was also rated as needing major improvement.

This rating puts the eatery in a rare class of infamy – with only 0.2% of establishments in the UK receiving a rating of 0.

The inspections are carried out by officers working toward the Food Standards Agency's criteria, which are:

  • Hygienic food handling - Hygienic handling of food including preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage.
  • Management of food safety - System or checks in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat, evidence that staff know about food safety, and the food safety officer has confidence that standards will be maintained in future.
  • Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building - Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building (including having appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control) to enable good food hygiene.

All ratings are contemporary at time of publication, visit https://ratings.food.gov.uk/ for an up to date food hygiene rating.

A Warrington Borough Council spokesperson said: “The purpose of a Food Hygiene inspection is to protect the public by working with the business to help them to achieve a high standard of compliance. The food hygiene rating reflects the standards found on the date of the inspection and is not a guide to food quality. The National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is co-ordinated nationally by the Food Standards Agency. You can check the Food Hygiene Rating Score of a business by visiting Food Standards Agency.

“We work with local businesses to ensure that they thrive and succeed, part of this is ensuring that they have robust food safety systems and standards in place. Where a business has not met these standards, we are committed to working with them to achieve an improvement. We will also take proportionate enforcement action, where appropriate. In common with all ongoing cases we are not able to comment on specific issues”.

Anika have been contacted for comment.