THE Manor Residential Home has received a hygiene rating of one after a food safety inspection by the Food Standard Agency was carried out in August.

There are three main factors which decide the final rating.

These are the confidence in management and control, compliance with food hygiene and safety procedures and compliance with structural requirements.

According to the report the care home needs to ensure that regular auditing or checks by management take place to identify problems quickly.

The inspector said: “I am very concerned that the lack of staff awareness of food safety systems indicates a lack of management controls over food operations in your business.

“Controls must be put in place to ensure there is no risk to public safety.

“On the day of the visit, foods with an expired use-by date were found in the freezers, such as Tesco breaded chicken goujons that was purchased fresh and frozen in-house.

“It is an offence to expose food for sale after the use-by date has expired, even if the food has been frozen.”

Tesco white bread was also found past its best before date.

The inspector also had cause for the concern with the kitchens in the care home.

The inspector said: “It was noted that the lavatory door opened directly into the pastry kitchen where food was being handled.

“Toilets must not open directly into a room where food is handled and prepared.

“The condiments wall cupboard in the main kitchen was dirty, practically, the door hinges, hand contact points and internal shelf. Thoroughly clean the unit and disinfect.”

The inspector was also concerned that high risk foods were left at room temperature for long periods of time and recommended that the care home provides a refrigerator in the main kitchen.

A spokesman for Cheshire East Council said that improvements have since been made at the care home but the overall rating will not change until a re-score assessment has been carried out.

The spokesman said new staff are currently undergoing formal training and historic staff are completing refresher training. New date labelling procedures are in place for items with a use-by date that are frozen in house and the pastry kitchen has reverted back to a staff room and sanitiser has been made available in the main kitchen.

The Guardian has approached the care home for comment.