Posted: April 15th, 2009 - 9:52am by Katie Filion

One year after publishing restaurant hygiene ratings online, the number of top-rated establishments has increased, reports the Northampton Chronicle and Echo.

[Last year hygiene ratings] revealed 19 venues were awarded a five- star rating while 46 were given the lowest possible rating of no stars. Twelve months on and the number of top-rated venues has increased to 30, while the number of zero-starred outlets has fallen to 37.

Restaurant hygiene scores have been available online in the UK borough of Northampton for a year as an attempt to name-and-shame establishments into cleaning up their act.

Leader of Northampton Borough Council, Councillor Tony Woods said of the disclosure scheme,

"It's good to see that standards of hygiene in Northampton are improving at a time when businesses are under significant financial pressure. We are going to carry on pressing home the importance of food hygiene and those venues that are not complying can expect us to take further action."

Northampton restaurant hygiene ratings can be accessed online, here.