A man decided to set up a website publicising food hygiene ratings after opening his takeaway and finding moths inside.
OMGOMG.co.uk collates data from authorities across the UK and uploads the ratings of hundreds of restaurants, shops and cafes every week.
The man behind the site, Dave Wilson told the ECHO he thought that while authorities and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) publish the data, it is not "pushed out there" so he wanted to create a site that did that.
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As well as publishing online, the site allows you to sent up email alerts for food establishments in your area and there are a number of local Facebook pages that also post links to individual ratings.
Mr Wilson, who did not want to reveal where he was based, told the ECHO: "I got interested in food hygiene rating because I used to go to the same Indian restaurant for years.
"One day I got a takeaway from there and one of the takeaway plastic tubs had another one stuck underneath it.
"When I opened it, moths flew out - I couldn't believe it, and when I check the ratings it had zero stars, but I just never knew."
With a background in IT, Mr Wilson started the website that complied all the data published from every authority across the UK in a bid to give diners the vital information about the ratings.
He said: "I think it is about being able to make an informed decision, some won't mind if it has a low rating.
"I didn't think the ratings were really pushed out there, yes, they are available on the Food Standards Agency website, but they are not put anywhere."
But just because the data is published doesn't mean the issues end there.
Since starting the site and the accompanying Facebook pages for each area, Dave said he noticed a stark difference in different local authorities and how often they publish their inspection data.
He said: "Some are very good at inspecting and publishing. Others take their time.
"I compile averages, also included on the website, for each authority, and I can see Wirral Council took 41 days to publish in November and on average it is 17 days.
"This is not just bad because of restaurants who get zero stars meaning the public can't make an informed choice, but it is incredibly frustrating for those with five star ratings.
"They will want to shout about it, but then if someone looks, it could still say the old rating because the data has not been published.
"I saw a huge drop off in data during the pandemic, some councils carried on, but many really slowed down.
"Now, I can understand it for restaurants, but not takeaways because the whole nation turned to takeaways and without inspection, that really puts the public at risk."
The ECHO asked Wirral Council about their publishing and their huge drop in the number of inspections - there were 821 in 2019 and just 270 in 2020.
They admitted they had diverted officers to deal with priorities set out by the FSA which lead to a drop in "routine inspections".
A spokesperson for Wirral Council said: "Throughout the pandemic, like other local authorities, Wirral Council has followed and implemented guidance issued by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in relation to food law enforcement.
"This included prioritising our reduced resources (as some officers were diverted to deal directly with the covid 19 pandemic) to dealing with priorities specified by the FSA including visiting any businesses where there was a significant risk to the public.
"This led to a drop in the number of routine inspections carried out in 2020 combined with the periods of national lockdown where many businesses were closed.
"The council continued to visit any premises which posed a risk to public health in accordance with the guidance.
“Wirral Council has returned to carrying out inspections in accordance with the FSA’s recovery plan for food law and complies with the brand standard which requires uploads of inspection data at least every 28 days, so the public can be confident that the published food hygiene ratings are up to date."
So far this year, there has been data on 641 inspections published and the ECHO understands there was a temporary issue in publishing data in November which has now been resolved.
While Mr Wilson just publishes the data already freely available on the FSA website, he said he has still had his fair share of angry messages.
He said: "I have had a lot of nice messages when people get a five star rating, but I also get some nasty messages from businesses who have been given a zero rating.
"If you get a zero rating, you have a month to appeal before the data is published, I only have officially published data on my website.
"And that is true of councils, some appreciate what I do and are very keen at getting the data out there, others less so and take a month to upload their data.
"I find this create a lot of noise, as they are all just dumped at once rather than one or two at a time so you can process them more, if there are lots at once, things can get missed."
The FSA hygiene rating scheme was introduced to help people choose where to eat or shop. It rates businesses between zero and five - it is not a legal requirement in England to display your rating, though it is in Wales and Scotland.
You can search the FSA's data here or visit Mr Wilson's site.
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