BBC names brands with unsatisfactory hygiene scores: Seven restaurant and eating out chains have not a single one of their outlets recorded as “unsatisfactory” after food hygiene inspections, according to an analysis of Food Standards Agency data on 33 major brands by the BBC. The seven are Carluccio’s, Giraffe, Nando’s, Pret a Manger, TGI Friday’s, West Cornwall Pasty and Zizzi, which all had every one of their inspected outlets get at least a “satisfactory” rating. The worst performers were fast food outlets trading under the names of Dixy Chicken and Chicken Cottage, where around one in three outlets failed to meet satisfactory levels for food hygiene when they were last inspected. The worst-performing “mainstream” brand was Patisserie Valerie, with one in 12 of its 72 outlets inspected rated “unsatisfactory”, and Papa John’s and Wimpy, each with around one in 16 restaurants ranked “unsatisfactory”. A restaurant is “unsatisfactory” if it scores 0, 1 or 2 out of 5 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or is given an “improvement required” rating in Scotland. The BBC said of its analysis of the FSA data: “Some caveats are needed about the figures. They are based on information uploaded to the FSA by individual local authorities by the middle of June, plus updates supplied to us by some chains. However some inspections will have taken place quite some time ago, and some authorities will be quicker at reporting the details, so there is no guarantee that it is all strictly up to date. As well as this, the FSA doesn’t have ratings for all outlets, because some are currently awaiting inspection or are exempt, some local authorities have not supplied information for all the establishments in their area, and a few councils (such as Greenwich) do not participate in the FSA scheme. For these reasons it is better to take the data as a rough evaluation for how different chains are doing rather than a set of exact measurements.” It said all the chains were given the chance to check the data, but most did not comment. However, Patisserie Valerie said that it acted immediately to remedy unsatisfactory ratings and that “we await our next inspections with confidence”. Wimpy also said that it takes corrective action when any of its restaurants is found to be below par. TGI Friday’s, which scored well, told the BBC it was investing a seven-figure sum to achieve maximum five-star ratings in all its establishments. Zizzi, another chain with a good record, said it was pleased that the ratings reflected its operating standards.