ALMOST a quarter of Worcester food outlets inspected in the past six months did not meet basic hygiene and safety standards, environmental health officers have found.

The figures are revealed in Worcester City Council's new scores on the doors scheme which, for the first time, allows members of the public to see the individual results of food hygiene inspections carried out by the city's environmental health team.

The results do not make happy reading for the six Worcester food outlets so far that have received the lowest rating.

Italian restaurant La Piccola Brindisi on Friar Street, Wyld's Lane takeaway Pink Garlic, Crowngate Centre butchers the Three Lions Company, and food retailers Costcutter, Prestwich Avenue, Ronkswood, Cathedral News, Fish Street, and Ingrams News, St Anne's Road, Claines, all received a no-star rating of "very poor" for food hygiene and safety.

At the other end of the scale, eight city businesses have received a five-star rating of "excellent."

One of them, the Cherry Orchard Cafe on Orchard Street, is a day centre service run partly by adults with learning difficulties.

None of the businesses to have been judged five star so far are conventional sit-down restaurants.

Anita Fletcher, principal environmental health officer for Worcester City Council, said: "We're really excited about this scheme, which will help residents and tourists make a more informed choice on where they eat out or purchase food. "Additionally, it will give businesses an extra incentive to improve standards, with wider publicity attached to their achievements." So far, 156 Worcester food outlets, out of 705, have been rated under the scheme, from restaurants and takeaways to bakeries, newsagents and staff canteens.

The 36 which fell below the minimum acceptable standard of two stars can expect a follow-up inspection in the next 12 months.

Each business is rated for its management, including the quality of staff training, quality of suppliers and pest control contracts, hygiene, including cleanliness of surfaces, hand-washing, separation of raw and cooked foods, and structure, including the quality of actual facilities, and then given an overall star rating.

Everyone can see the results for each food outlet by visiting ww.scoresonthedoors.org.uk.

The website will be updated each month as further inspections are carried out. Results can also be found for food outlets in the wider Worcestershire and Herefordshire area.

Worcester's five-star food safety outlets were the Cherry Orchard Cafe, the What's Cooking takeaway deli on Mealcheapen Street, DJ's Mobile Snack Bar , the Eden Coffee Shop in St Peter's Baptist Church, the Spire South Bank Hospital on Bath Road, the Woodgreen Cottage Day Nursery on Trotshill Lane East, the Pitmaston House Training Centre on Malvern Road, and the staff canteen at Blackpole manufacturing firm Yamazaki Mazak.