Doncaster named as one of the most unhygienic places for dining out in Yorkshire

According to research conducted by Virtual College, Doncaster has been ranked as one of the least hygienic places to go out for a meal in Yorkshire and The Humber.

The research did not just contain Yorkshire – Virtual College looked at over 500,000 food-based businesses from across Britain. All of the data used in their study was gathered from the Food Standards Agency.

Using their methods of applying the data, Virtual College worked out that the national average of food hygiene in Britain was 4.65/5. A perfect score of five out of five indicates that hygiene standards are “very good” while a bottom score of zero means that “urgent improvement is required”.

How did Doncaster fare in the rankings?

Doncaster did not perform well in Virtual College’s findings – out of 14 areas, Doncaster placed at number 11. Doncaster weighted total for its food hygiene came in at 4.53, far below the national average.

In Yorkshire, only Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees finished with a lesser score than Doncaster’s (respectively). Bradford was given a score of 4.51, Calderdale finished with a total of 4.46, while Kirklees could only manage 4.45.

North East Lincolnshire has the honour of being the most hygienic area around Yorkshire for eating out – it achieved a score of 4.81, easily beating out the rest of the competition.

Doncaster may not have done particularly well in this regard – but, it was far from the least hygienic area in Britain. That dishonour falls onto Waltham Forest in London, which racked up a concerningly low score of 3.95.

Where did the other towns and cities in South Yorkshire rank?

Rotherham ranked the highest in terms of places in South Yorkshire, with a score of 4.74 – it was also second in the Yorkshire rankings. Just behind it in third was Barnsley, which achieved a score of 4.71.

Meanwhile, Sheffield was far behind these two with a score of 4.59. Of Britain’s 50 biggest towns and cities, Sheffield ranked 26th – just falling into the bottom half. Therefore, only two of the four major towns and cities in South Yorkshire managed to exceed the national average for food hygiene.

Overall, Yorkshire fell slightly below the national hygiene rating average of 4.65, achieving a score of 4.61. Despite this, it was not the lowest ranked region in Britain – that would be London, with an average of 4.40.

Sarah Baker, Chief Learning Officer at Virtual College, said: “At the end of the day, undercooked food and unclean equipment can both make you really ill, so it's something that anyone dining out should be aware of.

"And as consumers become savvier on this, it's important for any businesses working with food to establish guidelines and keep these up to date. Not only will they be ensuring the safety of consumers but organisations with a good reputation in food hygiene are more likely to stand apart from their competitors who do not offer the same standards, which is another incentive for businesses to get the best rating possible!"