A TAKEAWAY restaurant has been given a zero-food hygiene rating.

AJ's Pizza and Kismat was given the lowest possible score - after its latest hygiene inspection.

Following its inspection,the takeaway, in Laslett Street, Worcester, was marked as ‘urgent improvement necessary’.

It is now the only business in the city with a zero-hygiene rating.

An inspector paid a visit to the restaurant, which serves pizza, kebabs, burgers and wraps on Thursday, August 8.

It was previously inspected last year on Wednesday, February 14 and was given a ‘good’ four-star hygiene rating by Worcestershire Regulatory Services.

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According to the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) website, the hygiene rating for the business states that major improvement is necessary in relation to food handling.

This includes food preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage.

Cleanliness and condition of the facilities and building needs to also be improved.

This comprises of having an appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control to enable good food hygiene.

Systems or checks should be in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat.

There should also be evidence that staff have knowledge on food safety, and the food safety officer has confidence that standards will be maintained in future.

The manager at AJ’s Pizza and Kismat was unavailable to speak to the Worcester News when we contacted the takeaway yesterday.

The ratings available range from zero, which is the lowest on scale, to five, which means it’s very good, and is used by the FSA.

The scheme means businesses must display the FSA information on their venue and online.

The only other eatery in the city that has received a zero-star rating recently was Panama Jacks, in Angel Street.

The eatery shut down for good on May 9 following a hygiene inspection in April.

Worcester City Council had served the business with improvement notices two days before the closure and its last trading day appears to have been May 4.

The restaurant received two zero-star ratings during the course it was open since October last year.