New food hygiene ratings have been awarded to several places in Cornwall over the past month, the Food Standards Agency’s website shows.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) make their hygiene ratings public, so that anyone can visit their website to discover how restaurants in their area have scored.

The inspections are carried out by the local authority and findings are updated on the FSA website whenever there is a new inspection.

There are six different ratings that a venue can be awarded from 0 to 5: 5 - Hygiene standards are very good; 4 – Hygiene standards are good; 3 – Hygiene standards are generally satisfactory; 2 – Some improvement is necessary; 1 – Major improvement is necessary; 0 – Urgent improvement is required.

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The following ratings were all updated during March, or the start of April:

Restaurants, cafés and canteens

• Rated 5: Above The Bay at Falmouth Golf Club, The Green, Falmouth; rated on April 6

• Rated 5: 2Yoo Ltd at 42 Ocean View Road, Bude; rated on April 4

• Rated 5: La Peniche Falmouth Café And Bistro, French Barge, North Quay, Quay Street; rated on April 1

• Rated 5: Rojano's In The Square at 9 - 11 Mill Square, Padstow; rated on April 1

• Rated 5: The Mussel Box at Basement Café, 11 Broad Street, Padstow; rated on April 1

• Rated 5: Café Metro at Cornwall College, Trevenson Road, Pool; rated on March 31

• Rated 5: Chough's Cafeteria, Duchy College, Rosewarne Downs, Camborne; rated on March 31

• Rated 5: Kona at Maritime House, Discovery Quay, Falmouth; rated on March 31

• Rated 5: Trevenson Restaurant at Cornwall College, Trevenson Road, Pool; rated on March 31

• Rated 5: Pentyr Cafe at Pentireglaze, St Minver, Wadebridge; rated on March 30

• Rated 5: Rock Fish And Chips at Rock Road, Rock, Wadebridge; rated on March 30

• Rated 5: Wei-Cheng Chinese Buffet & Restaurant at The New Atlantic Diner, 5 - 7 Belle Vue, Bude; rated on March 30

• Rated 5: Churchtown Café, Fore Street, St Teath, Bodmin; rated on March 29

• Rated 5: Bodmin KFC, Forth A Hellier, Bodmin; rated on March 28

• Rated 5: Lily's Of Truro By Punk Thai, 21 Pydar Street, Truro; rated on March 25

• Rated 4: India at 3 Wendron Street, Helston; rated on March 2

• Rated 4: Little India at Light Of Bengal, 52 Market Jew Street, Penzance; rated on March 2

• Rated 2: Restaurant Four at Olivers, 33 High Street, Falmouth; rated on March 17

The Packet contacted Restaurant Four who said their kitchen was, in fact, "spotless" and that there was more to the ratings than just overall cleanliness.

A spokesperson for Restaurant Four said: "It's called a food hygiene rating, but so many other things come under that category.

"By calling it a food hygiene rating it makes it seem like the score is just related to the 'hygiene' of restaurants.

"It should be more open, and people should be able to see how a restaurant has got its score, rather than it just being 'that's the score.'

"I think that should be available for people to look at if they want."

They went on to tell the Packet: "We were shown to have no risk to any groups listed, our method processing or anything relating to hygiene compliance. 

"We did however score points for 'handling methods' and 'compliance structure'. This was solely to do with a storage cupboard and allergen paperwork; which was actually scored incorrectly. 

"Our report states we should display an allergen information sheet either within our menus or in a prominent location. We actually do both, so this must have been something the inspector missed."

She said that the government-led scheme states it is set up for "protecting the consumer from receiving food prepared in unsanitary conditions", but added: "This statement gives the consumer the wrong idea that you're going to get sick from going to a restaurant with a lower score, when this could be based on a mishandling of paperwork, building layout, structural problems or minor building repairs such as painting or torn flooring. 

"There is a definite need for the FSA and the score it provides, however not giving the public access to the wider report leads to problems. People outside the food industry do not understand what exactly goes into a full report and therefore can only be expected to make assumptions about food hygiene as the scores' names suggest."

And she went on to add that when they took over the restaurant in mid 2019 they immediately applied for a food hygiene score as a new business, but said it was delayed until March 2022 due to Covid.

"There has been absolutely no structural changes to the building, yet our score is 3 points lower, with the decrease being mainly due to 'structural compliance'. This has led us to consider an appeal. 

"Our main point was to fix structural ceiling work within a store cupboard.  This was a big shock to us as nothing within the building has changed structurally, so the ceiling is in the same condition as when we bought it. 

"We are looking to rectify these listed issues as soon as possible, however had we known that these issues would be found in this most recent report we would have had any needed work done while we were in lockdown and the restaurant was not running."

Pubs, bars and nightclubs

• Rated 5: The Queens Head, 1 The Square, St Stephen, St Austell; rated on March 23

• Rated 4: The Bridge Inn, Bridge Hill, Bridge, Redruth; rated on March 17

• Rated 4: Victoria Inn, Chyvelah Road, Threemilestone, Truro; rated on March 17

Takeaways

• Rated 5: The Cornish Crust at The Local, 3 Baytree Hill, Liskeard; rated on March 3

Rated 3: Curry Inn, a takeaway at Little Castle Street, Truro: rated on March 21