THE council failed more than 20 per cent of businesses in the region in a recent round of food safety inspections.
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According to Tamworth Regional Council's latest budget report, inspectors failed 17 out of 80 premises in the last quarter for a range of issues.
The rate of food safety fails in the Tamworth Regional Council has more than doubled in the last year, when only eight premises didn't make the cut.
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The council's manager of regulatory services, Ross Briggs, said a failed inspection wasn't "a bad thing".
"They are demonstrating that premises are benefiting from the inspections because they are being given clear directions on how to comply and are putting those directions into practice," Mr Briggs said.
He said there was a range of factors which contributed to a premises not meeting the standards, which could include the time of the day and week the inspections occurred.
Mr Briggs also suggested businesses might've had issues retaining adequate staff at the moment.
"Food premises vary in compliance depending on the time of inspection ... and on their current ability to retain sufficient staff members to meet demands of maintaining a premises to the required standard of cleanliness," he said.
"Some of the issues found relate to either cleaning, or maintenance issues that on their own aren't a health risk, but when added together result in enough points on our inspection checklist to score a fail.
"All failed inspections are followed up with the proprietors to ensure that the issues are rectified."
This quarter's round of inspections included 11 fails and "six follow-up failed-inspections which subsequently passed".
Just 32 out of 80 inspections received a five-star rating with a further nine receiving four-star grades.
There were 15 three-star ratings, three 'no-stars' given to school canteen premises and four improvement notices.
The council's target is 100 per cent of premises at fours stars or above.