Enfield has been named amongst the worst authorities in the country for food safety.

An investigation by consumer magazine Which? into food safety enforcement deemed Enfield Borough Council to be in the bottom ten of 395 authorities across the UK.

Of the 2,356 establishments rated by the local authority, 942 were deemed non-compliant with food standards - almost 40 per cent.

However, Enfield Borough Council has taken action against 89 per cent of those establishments that fell below the compliance level.

In comparison, Bexley was voted the worst authority with 556 of its 1,302 establishments rated non-compliant, 43 per cent.

The best authority in the country was Cherwell in the South East. Of its 1,165 establishments, 97 per cent (1,130) were voted within the food standards.

The study, based on data from the Food Standards Agency, also shows overall food testing for the whole country fell by 6.8 per cent from the previous year.

In response to the statistics, the council’s cabinet member for environment, Councillor Chris Bond, said: “We have a fantastically diverse and thriving range of food businesses in Enfield, which deliver a brilliant service to thousands of satisfied customers every week.

“However, it is nonsense on the part of Which? and actually counterproductive to actively penalise food safety teams who go out into the community and find examples of bad practice, under their scoring regime, authorities which carry out robust inspections and identify failings are rated as worse than authorities which conduct less forensic investigations into food hygiene – to my mind that is wrong.

“In Enfield, we focus our effort and resources on conducting very thorough inspections of the highest risk food businesses in the borough in order to protect the public from harm."