BASILDON council has admitted a cafe was "harshly treated" in a recent survey on food hygiene.

Bella Rossi Ice Cream Cafe, in Town Square, Basildon, was named as one of 39 out of 787 food outlets which gained no stars out of five in an extensive two-year survey, as revealed in Friday's Echo.

Yesterday, the business was inspected again and council bosses believe it will now score higher because the first inspection, last July, happened after the business had just opened.

Environmental health officers revisited the cafe three months later to find it was operating at a "good standard", but council spokesman Ray McKay said the rating was not altered because of "council codes".

Mr McKay said: "We have acknowledged that they were harshly treated and it is for that reason that they have been revisited. I can say that they will now have a much better rating."

Cafe owner Neil Freedman said: "We hope that this doesn't affect our business too much.

"We were extremely disappointed to receive the grade we have, but we are pleased that things have been dealt with swiftly by the council to correct this."