DINERS planning a Valentine's night meal on Teesside are being warned to check restaurants hygiene ratings before booking a table.

A total of ten food outlets across Teesside currently have a 'zero' rating on the Food Standards Agency website which means 'urgent improvement is necessary,' and a further 60 have a 'one' rating which means major improvements must be made.

However, the vast majority of the 4,282 eateries in Middlesbrough, Stockton, Redcar and Cleveland and Hartlepool local council areas received the five star rating and in Middlesbrough 96 per cent received the 'five star' rating.

All registered food outlets must take part in the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme which has been running since March, 2012. Each council's environmental health officers periodically inspect the restaurants and take-aways or act on tip-offs from the public.

Judith Hedgley, Middlesbrough Council’s Environmental Health Manager, urged the public to check any given food outlet's rating before going out on Valentine's Day.

She said: “Food hygiene rating schemes have helped to drive up hygiene standards in food businesses. A total of 96 per cent of food businesses in Middlesbrough have achieved a hygiene rating of three, four or five and 82 per cent of businesses have been awarded the top five rating. Standards of hygiene in Middlesbrough have never been higher.”

James Stoker, owner of Chilli Cake in Baker Street, Middlesbrough, received the top 'five star' rating. He said: “We are a young and developing business and the support from Middlesbrough Council’s Environmental Health Team has been superb."

The four food outlets that received a zero rating in Middlesbrough were Bar-Bq-Night on Acklam Road, Springfield Hotel on Borough Road, Zara's Pizzeria on Linthorpe Road and Shahb Restaurant on Gresham Road. A total of eight eateries received a 'one' rating. There are 1,109 eateries in the borough of Middlesbrough.

In the borough of Stockton there are 1,360 food outlets of which just two received a 'zero' rating: Italianos, Bishop Lane and Mrs Brown's Kitchen in Thornaby Pavilion Shopping Centre. There were 30 places that received a 'one' rating including the cafe at Stockton Central Library.

In Redcar and east Cleveland's 1,060 eateries just two had a zero rating: Mammania on Skelton High Street and Milanos on Normanby Road, Normanby. A total of 17 outlets had a 'one rating.

In Hartlepool only Olivito's on Raby Road had a zero rating out of 753 outlets and only five had a 'one' rating.

Cafes, restaurants and takeaways that receive a zero rating are often closed immediately for a deep clean and the owners are given advice. Standards very often improve dramatically. Furthermore, some of the ratings published on the Food Agency's website date back to last May.