Three Bradford takeaways were given the lowest food hygiene rating, zero, within days of each other in the latest round of inspections.

There are 3,908 restaurants, takeaways and food shops in Bradford which are monitored by the council’s Environmental Health department and the Food Standards Agency.

Papa G’s at 689 Little Horton Lane, Peshwari Cuisine at 116 Lumb Lane and Raja’s Pizza Bar at 808 Leeds Road were rated zero in December 2017.

Prior to that, only four other establishments across the district had current zero ratings.

The food hygiene report for Papa G’s, which was inspected on December 19, was released to the Telegraph & Argus after a Freedom of Information request.

The inspector said meat stored in a bain-marie was at a temperature of 47 C when it should be at or above 63 C.

He added: “The ceiling was leaking liquid onto the pizza oven giving rise to contamination of food.

“Cease the practice of using old/used cardboard as a surface covering in food production areas as old cardboard may be contaminated prior to entry into your premises and cannot be cleaned.”

The report said the pizza topping containers, dough mixer and walk-in fridge were in “filthy condition”.

Papa G’s manager Mohammad Hussain said the roof has since been fixed and, when the takeaway was inspected, it had just come under new management. He said: “They came back at the start of January and we are just waiting for the revisit now. When they came back they were happy with the way it was dealt with. Obviously the roof is something we have been chasing up and have sorted out. Everything’s up to date. We are just waiting on our next visit.”

Full reports for Peshwari Cuisine, inspected on December 14, and Raja’s Pizza Bar, inspected on December 18, were not available as the council is investigating the premises. Manager of Peshwari Cuisine Ziauriehman Rahmen said the restaurant was not done up when inspectors visited. He said: “Everything should be okay now. The inspectors are going to come back in two weeks.”

Raja’s Pizza Bar did not respond to a request for a comment.

A Bradford Council spokesperson said: “We always try and work with food businesses to help them improve standards, however we will take further formal action where there are clear breaches of the law and poor food hygiene.”

Cllr David Ward (The Liberal Democrat and Independent Group, Bolton and Undercliffe) has called for food outlets to be legally compelled to display food hygiene ratings. He said: “This is an indication of why it’s so important for food hygiene ratings to be displayed. We argued very strongly for this. People have a right to know.”