AROUND a third of Bexley food outlets require urgent, major or necessary improvement according to government data.

The figures show 33 per cent of premises visited by Food Safety officers have scored a rating of two out of five.

Forty-four businesses – or 5 per cent of outlets - received a score of ‘zero’ which means ‘urgent improvement’ is necessary and 20 per cent of premises (156) rated 'one' indicating ‘major improvement’ is needed.

However 30 per cent received a top rating of 'five'.

The scoring system, devised by the Food Standards Agency, looks at how effectively the company meets the law on food hygiene.

The figures were recently released at a Bromley Council Public Protection and Safety Scrutiny Committee and showed Bromley is outperforming Bexley where food hygiene ratings are concerned.

A Bexley Council spokesman said: "The responsibility for ensuring food safety and compliance with food safety law lies solely with the business.

"When inspecting premises Bexley's focus is on that premises alone, rather than the borough's final accumulative figure.

"There has been an on-going improvement in business awareness of the scheme and the food hygiene scores that have been awarded since the scheme was launched in Bexley last year, with ratings being awarded to an additional 160 businesses since April 2012."

For more information, visit food.gov.uk/ratings