Staff at a Wirral chippy have said customers are in “disbelief” after they received the worst possible food hygiene rating.
Pasture Fish and Chip Shop, in Moreton, was awarded a zero star food hygiene rating following a council inspection on June, 21. The damning assessment means “urgent improvement” is necessary to improve standards of hygiene at the takeaway.
There are three separate criteria that are inspected by the council; management of food safety, hygienic food handling, and cleanliness and condition of facilities and building.
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The management of food safety was found to be the most pressing issue in the recent inspection, with “urgent” improvement required to ensure safety checks are in place to monitor the quality of the food. “Major” improvement is also required in the hygienic food handling category, while improvement has also been deemed necessary in the cleanliness and condition of the building.
It’s not the first time the chippy has been hit with a poor rating. It was awarded just one star at the previous inspection in April 2021, having amassed a trio of three-star ratings in the three years before that.
However, the takeaway appears to be popular with the public, with a five star rating on TripAdvisor and a 4.6 rating on Google. And a spokesperson for Pasture Fish and Chip Shop said customers had been left confused by the results of the inspection.
The spokesperson told the ECHO : “We’ve passed our hygienic course and it's very clean. We paint everything. Customers say it’s clean, so I don’t understand why we’ve been given zero.
“I can’t afford to pay £170 for them to revisit, but I’m very disappointed. I tell customers that it’s been rated zero and they’re shocked and in disbelief. I don’t understand why they’re picking on us.
"This is probably one of the cleanest zero-rated chippies you will see.”
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