Several major UK supermarkets in Birmingham and Solihull have been found lacking in food hygiene during recent inspections. These assessments, which are carried out at random by local authorities, evaluate various factors including the cleanliness of facilities, pest control measures, food storage practices, food management systems, and overall hygiene standards.
Food hygiene ratings are given on a scale from 0 to 5, where 0 indicates urgent improvement is necessary, and 5 reflects very good standards. Any score below 3 is considered a failure by regulatory authorities.
As of 13 August, several prominent supermarkets in Birmingham and Solihull have received unsatisfactory scores:
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Aldi at 273 Stratford Road, Sparkbrook, Birmingham, B11 1AD scored a ‘2’ (improvement necessary) during its last inspection on 6 January 2025.
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Lidl at 644 Kingsbury Road, Tyburn, B24 9PJ also received a ‘2’ rating, with the most recent inspection on 31 August 2025.
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Iceland at 15-17 Northfield Shopping Centre, Bristol Road South, Birmingham, B31 2JU was rated ‘1’ (major improvement necessary) following their last inspection on 29 October 2024.
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Asda at 341 Bosworth Drive, Fordbridge, B37 5EX received a score of ‘2’ after an inspection on 29 March 2026.
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Tesco located at 1505 Stratford Road, Shirley, B90 4EN also scored ‘2’ in their inspection dated 28 March 2026.
In response, an Asda spokesperson stated: “We can reassure our customers that the issues identified during the inspection of our Fordbridge store five months ago have since been rectified. We will be applying for a re-rating and expect the outcome to reflect the high standards we maintain across our stores.”
A Lidl GB spokesperson commented: “As a responsible food retailer, we are committed to providing customers with food that is not only of maximum freshness and high-quality but is also safe to eat. To do so, we implement rigorous policies and procedures that are regularly reviewed and challenged internally. We were therefore disappointed to hear that our usual high standards were not met on this occasion. Following the findings identified during the inspection, we liaised closely with Birmingham City Council. In addition, we provided additional training to our store team alongside enhanced monitoring to ensure that our expected high standards are being maintained.”
Tesco also issued a statement: “We set ourselves the highest store standards and take hygiene extremely seriously, with comprehensive cleaning and food safety processes in place across all of our stores. The majority of our stores have a hygiene rating of 5, the highest rating, and we are working hard to address all the recommendations made during the store inspection as soon as possible.”
Attempts to obtain comments from Aldi and Iceland were unsuccessful at the time of writing.