A Watford takeaway has been told its needs to make ‘major improvements’ to its hygiene.

A council food safety inspection on May 21 found Lemongrass in Langley Road was failing all three of the hygiene standard criteria.

The takeaway, which sells Chinese, Thai and Malaysian food, was rated one out of five – the second worst possible hygiene rating.

Food safety officers deemed the businesses hygienic handling of food and general cleanliness both required improvement and that the systems in place to ensure food was sold safe to eat need ‘major improvement’.

The restaurant has a recent history of poor hygiene ratings, having aced its first inspection back in 2015.

Six years ago council officers gave it a glowing five out of five review known as ‘very good’.

But inspections in 2017 and 2018 found standards had slipped, and the restaurant was rated two out of five.

This year that has further slumped to one out of five.

When inspecting a premise, food safety officers review three criteria:

• Hygienic food handling

• Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building

• Management of food and systems to ensure food served is safe to eat