You'll never guess which food chains fared best in new food hygiene tests...

Updated
Wetherspoons
Wetherspoons


(Chris Radburn/PA)

It wouldn't be unusual to see a couple of crisps crushed into the carpets or a spilt Jagerbomb at the bar counter, but these minor mishaps haven't stopped JD Wetherspoon topping the new food hygiene tests alongside Pret A Manger.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) analysed outlets of the 20 biggest high street food chains, giving each a rating on a scale of 0 to five, with five being the best.

Wetherspoon and Pret both received a rating of five at 93.1% of their stores, well above the overall average of 83.7%.

Fast food giant McDonald's was the next best performer, with 92.9% of its restaurants scoring five, followed by coffee chain Starbucks (91%).

At the other end of the scale, Hungry Horse had the lowest percentage of chains with the top rating (66.1%), while Caffe Nero (66.9%) and pub chain Harvester (67.5%) fared marginally better.

Catriona Stewart, who heads up the FSA's Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme, said the data showed high street chains were taking food hygiene seriously.

She added: "We want to build on the success of the scheme and reduce consumer risk even further by encouraging people to 'look before they book'.

"Telling people about hygiene standards in food outlets in a way that is clear and easy to understand has made a real difference. We have seen standards improve and more and more businesses are able to show their customers that they take food hygiene seriously.

Commenting on the results, Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said: "Food hygiene is of paramount importance to our customers and rightly so.

"Our pub management and staff work hard to ensure that our pubs offer customers the highest levels of food hygiene at all times.

"We are extremely pleased that our pubs offer the best standards of food hygiene in the FSA ratings over the past five years and we will strive to maintain and improve our ratings in the coming months and years."

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