A FALAFEL shop owner has praised the city’s food hygiene standards in comparison to other major cities.

Mo Ali, who has owned Falafel House in Gloucester Green for 20 years, spoke after receiving a four-star rating.

Oxford City Council initially awarded the owner and his staff a two-star rating before realising its mistake and clarifying it had actually been awarded four stars.

The two-star rating appeared on the Scores on the Doors website before being taken down by the council, which cited an error on its system.

Mr Ali said: “We have never scored that low – we pride ourselves on having a good rating.

“It’s not a big deal and I’m happy it’s been clarified.

“The council and its health officers do a great job in implementing the system, which I think works very well.”

The Falafel House owner has been operating his kiosk in Gloucester Green since 1996, selling a range of Lebanese-style food including falafel, hummus and shawarma, a type of kebab.

Mr Ali said Oxford’s hygiene standards were high compared to other cities, but that the overall standards of its many kebab vans could be improved.

He said: “We had an environmental health officer come from Birmingham once and he said we were excellent and of a much better standard than anything up there.

“Compared to other big cities like Manchester and Liverpool, Oxford is a great place to go out to eat.”

He added: “We could still be better with our burger vans and kebab vans though.

“I have sympathy with those who run kebab vans. I don’t envy them, I would never open one up.”

The owner said his small restaurant, which trades until 7pm each day and 5pm on Sundays, posed its own problems and made the task of keeping hygiene standards up tougher.

He said: “It is a challenge. It’s only an 11ft by 9ft space and we make everything from scratch.

“All the food and produce is fresh – even the sauces we make.

“If we were a coffee shop and all the cakes were bought in or had been made from frozen, it would be easier.”

He added although food hygiene rules and regulations had changed over his 20 years in the business, the principles of running a clean and professional place remain the same.

He said: “ You are never going to be 100 per cent five-star so there are always things to improve on.

“We know we have to have the right product – the place has to be respectable and of course it has to be clean.”