Whitehaven grocery store receives low food hygiene rating

Ethen's Mini Mart, on King Street, was inspected by a food safety officer from the Food Standards Agency on March 3, 2026.

The Food Standards Agency is a national body which inspects shops and food preparation areas across the UK to ensure that what we buy has been made in a safe and clean environment.

Inspectors rank the environments on a scale of zero to five, where zero means "urgent improvement necessary" and five means "very good."

After their inspection in March, Ethen's Mini Mart was given a rating of "one."

A shop that receives this low rating is required to make changes as it means "major improvement necessary."

The grocery store was considered to have "major improvement necessary" in management of food safety, one of three areas inspected.

This area assesses whether systems and checks are in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat, that there is evidence staff know about food safety, and that the food safety officer "has confidence that standards will be maintained in the future."

Ethen's Mini Mart was considered "generally satisfactory" in the two other areas inspected.

One of these is hygienic food handling, involving an assessment of the preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage practices of the store.

The other area considered "generally satisfactory" was cleanliness and condition of facilities and the building.

The food safety officers assesses this by checking whether the store has an appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control "to enable good food hygiene."

If a business's hygiene standards are found to be "very poor" and there is an "imminent risk to public health", the food safety officer must act to ensure customers are protected.

This could involve temporarily stopping part of the business, or "closing it down completely until it is safe to recommence."

Ethen's Mini Mart describes itself as "a world where convenience meets quality" and customers can "discover a treasure trove of essentials and delights."

The shop stocks an array of Asian and Afro-Caribbean groceries, including fish, fruit, and vegetables.