A Café and grocery in Basingstoke has been given a one out of five, food hygiene rating following a recent inspection.

Honesty, at Dummer Down Farm, was given the low rating after being inspected by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council on August 3, 2021.

The result, published by the Food Standards Agency, said that ‘major improvements [are] necessary’ for the management of food safety.

This includes having systems or checks in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat; evidence that staff know about food safety; and that the food safety officer has confidence that standards will be maintained in the future.

For the hygienic food handling including preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage, the inspector said improvement was necessary.

However, the cleanliness and condition of facilities and building including having appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control to enable good food hygiene, were rated as ‘very good’.

Following a food hygiene inspection by a food safety officer a business is rated from zero to five, with five representing a very good premises, and zero for those that need urgent improvement.

Businesses which are given low ratings must make urgent or major improvements to hygiene standards.

The local authority food safety officer has several enforcement options available as well as giving advice and guidance to make sure these improvements are made.

The food safety officer will also tell the business how quickly these improvements must be made and this will depend on the type of issue that needs to be addressed.