89% of the 634,584 businesses in the UK – including 460,224 restaurants or caterers – met the 'broadly complient' grade, which is equivalent to the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme rating of three – “generally satisfactory” – or better.
The percentage of due food hygiene interventions, which covers food safety, rose to 85% compared to 84% last year.
6% of food outlets were ranked “unsatisfactory” or “improvements necessary”, while 5% of premises, including 24,042 restaurants and caterers, have yet to be rated by local authorities.
There was a 1.4% decrease in formal food hygiene enforcement actions, with 6,543 served by local authorities, while the number of premises subject to written warnings was down 0.1% to 161,845.
Nina Purcell director of regulatory delivery at the FSA, said: “It’s encouraging that local authorities are continuing to target their activities at food businesses where food safety risks are the highest or where food fraud is more likely.
“But the decrease in planned interventions for food standards is concerning and while hygiene interventions are increasing there remains a 15% shortfall.
“We’re going to use this enforcement data, along with other intelligence, to identify and target underperforming local authorities so that we can work with them to secure improvements or tackle any particular problems they may have.”
Last week, The Local Government Association urged that all food premises in England should have to display their hygiene ratings. While compulsory in Wales and Northern Ireland, establishments in England are not legally obliged to do so.