Around 150 supermarket stores owned by Britain’s biggest chains are failing to meet hygiene standards, with Tesco the worst offender, according to new research.
In a survey published by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) hundreds of supermarket outlets across the UK were rated on hygiene, with health officers checking aisles, bakeries, fish-mongers, cafes, staff canteens, and petrol stations .
Waitrose was found to be running the cleanest stores in the country, with all its outlets achieving either a four or five-star rating in the hygiene scoring system adopted by local authorities.
Rival upmarket grocer Marks and Spencer was ranked second, followed by Sainsburys and Asda .
However, just 35 per cent of 490 Tesco stores examined scored the top five-star rating, while 20 were judged to have less than three stars (three stars indicates good compliance with health laws).
Tesco dismissed the “misleading results”, saying the existing local scoring schemes are “subjective and inconsistent”.
Meanwhile, the supermarket giant has annoyed customers by selling mice pies a full 100 days before Christmas and with a best before date in October.
The Mr Kipling-branded ‘Extremely Merry Mince Pies ’, which come in a Christmas-decorated box, are being sold at £1.49 for six as part of a buy-one-get-one free offer.
However, the festive season treats come with ‘use by’ date of October 28.
