A DOZEN food outlets across the district have been given a five-star rating for food hygiene by inspectors over the past two months.

The 12 restaurants and takeaways were all praised by inspectors for their exceedingly high standards of cleanliness, handling of food and management of food safety.

All the outlets were visited in April and May by inspectors from the Food Standards Agency.

Handling of food relates to the having high standards of hygiene in preparation, cooking, reheating, cooling and storage of food.

Cleanliness covers the kitchen facilities and building, such as having an appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control.

And the management of food safety – the boring, paperwork side of the business – covers the systems and checks in place to ensure food sold or served is safe to eat, proving staff have a good knowledge of food safety, and that the inspector is confident these standards will be continued in the future.

All of the outlets were scored either ‘good’ or ‘very good’ in each of these criteria.

The 12 restaurants and takeaways given a five star rating are:

  • Woodies Diner, Fenwick Drive, Woodside
  • Lucullan Dining & Events at Keighley Golf Club, Keelham Lane
  • Shandaar Sweets & Ice Cream Bar, Leeds Road, Thornbury
  • Square Apple, White Abbey Road, Manningham
  • Intouch Café/Diner, Cheapside, Bradford city centre
  • Deli Fresh, Manchester Road, West Bowling
  • Nawabi, Westgate, Baildon
  • Main Street Café & Deli, Main Street, Bingley
  • Caracas, Saltaire Road, Shipley
  • The Terrace Café Bar, Bingley Road, Shipley
  • The Crusty Cob Café, Leonard Street, Bingley
  • Ponte Vecchio, High Street, Keighley

More than half of all food outlets in the Bradford district have a five star food hygiene rating.

There are 4,463 businesses registered with the Food Standards Agency, and of those 2,417 have a five star rating.

The FSA’s inspectors carry out regular visits to outlets across the district to ensure that hygiene standards are being maintained at a high level and so that outlets falling below the required level know what is needed to address their problems.