Council bosses has issued a warning to food establishments in East Staffordshire about displaying their latest food hygiene ratings certificates after it was alleged that one venue in Burton was displaying an out of date one.
One establishment was said to be displaying an old certificate from a previous inspection. This said the venue had the highest rating of five stars. However, after its most recent food hygiene inspection, the venue scored just three stars, which means it had been deemed 'generally satisfactory'.
The borough council has now warned that any outlet that continues to display an incorrect out of date rating could be committing an offence.
A spokesman from the council said: "Following an inspection the business is requested to destroy any poster or sticker it has for the previous rating at the end of the appeal period.
"When the council is made aware of a food establishment displaying out of date 'Rate my Place' posters or Food Hygiene Rating Scheme stickers, officers from the council will visit the business and remove the sticker or poster from display."
Rate My Place is an initiative set up by Staffordshire County Council in conjunction with the majority of district and borough councils across the county. The website allows the public to search for eateries in their local area and check out their most recent hygiene ratings.
The borough council spokesman added: "The continued display of an incorrect rating may also be referred to Trading Standards as it may constitute an offence under trading standards legislation for example an offence under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008."
The food hygiene rating scheme is a nation-wide initiative carried out by the Food Standards Agency. It sees food safety officers from local authorities visit businesses to examine the premises and give them a ranking from zero to five; zero is the poorest and five is the top rating.
During the visit, officers inspect the business by looking at how hygienically food is handled, the condition of the buildings and how bosses manage and records what it does to ensure food is safe for consumption.
Any business that has been given the lowest rating of zero or just one star is told what steps they need to take to improve, and is often given a time frame in which these changes should be implemented.
Businesses are then given a sticker stating what their hygiene rating is and this can be put up in windows or on the walls to let customers know how hygienic the establishment is, although this is not compulsary.
