A POPULAR tourist attraction is celebrating after being awarded the top food hygiene rating possible after a recent inspection. 

Cwmbran Boat House Café, part of the very popular Cwmbran Boating Lake, was awarded five stars, or very good, in their food hygiene inspection on Tuesday, September 3.  

The Food Hygiene Rating Act 2013 became law in Wales on March 4, 2013, requiring all businesses selling food in Wales - including pubs, cafes, restaurants, hotels, takeaways, schools, hospitals, canteens, care homes and corner shops – to display hygiene ratings in a prominent place, and to provide the information verbally if requested over the phone.

Inspections are carried out by the local authority officers, and ratings - from zero, meaning urgent improvement is necessary or they may risk closure; to five, meaning standards are excellent - are updated on the FSA website.

Each inspection is carried out under three specific categories.

These are hygienic food handling, which covers the hygienic handling of food including preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage; cleanliness and condition of facilities and building, which involves the cleanliness and condition of facilities and building, including having appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control, to enable good food hygiene; and management of food safety which covers the system or checks in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat, evidence that staff know about food safety, and the food safety officer has confidence that standards will be maintained in future. 

For each category, a business is given a rating of between very unsatisfactory and very good. 

Cwmbran Boat House Café was classed as good in both the cleanliness and condition of facilities and building and management of food safety categories, while hygienic food handling scored even higher, with a grading of very good. 

These three gradings gave the Cwmbran Boat House Cafe, based on Llanfrechfa Way in Cwmbran, an overall rating of very good. 

The team shared the news on Facebook around a month later, on October 2, writing: "The BOAT HOUSE CAFE is back to five stars!!!

"Thanks to our awesome staff!!"

The celebratory post was shared with an image of a coffee cup and welshcake alongside the official rating poster.