Newham ranks worst for food hygiene

London's Soho may be the spiritual home of the dirty burger, but if you want dirty in the traditional sense of the word, head to the London Borough of Newham, the worst ranking district for food hygiene in the UK, according to research.

A new study based on Food Standards Agency inspections data shows that Newham has the highest percentage of restaurants and cafes rated 0, 1 or 2 at 29.2%.

London boroughs dominated the list of the worst ranking council districts, with Ealing coming second on 28.2%, Harrow third on 26.2%, followed by Islington and Brent.

Outside London, Hertsmere, Birmingham and Hyndburn have the highest percentage of eateries that are poorly rated for hygiene.

Birmingham has the dubious honour of topping the charts for the greatest number of cafes and restaurants with the lowest possible hygiene rating. A zero rating indicates that urgent improvement is necessary and applies to 4.7% of the region's 1,249 food businesses.

The area where the highest percentage of restaurants are good or very good (rated 4 and 5), is South Derbyshire with 99.1%, followed by Darlington with 98.8% and South Norfolk with 97.7%.

The data is based from inspections carried out by 360 local authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland under the Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme. Scotland has a different rating system to the rest of the UK.

The study was carried out by LoveMyVouchers.co.uk.