Majority are failing inspections

More than half of all restaurants and caterers inspected by local authorities in the UK during 1999 were found to be breaking health and hygiene rules, according to figures published last week.

The statistics, released by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), show that out of 234,243 establishments inspected 122,957 had broken the rules.

But only a small proportion (542) were prosecuted. Most of these (365) were for general hygiene breaches. The others were sent warnings or improvement notices. The total number of restaurants and other caterers was 381,649, out of a total of 612,203 food premises.

The number of food establishments recorded by local authorities rose by 17%, which the FSA believes was due to national publicity surrounding the admission by Westminster City Council in London that 3,000 restaurant and other food outlets were missing from its database.