According to a new study by a British government watchdog group, one in five take-out meals are deemed not only unhealthy, but a health risk due to poor hygiene standards at fast-food restaurants.

The British Food Standards Agency (FSA) have expressed their concerns of fast-food restaurants not properly washing their hands before handling food to infestations of mice, rats, and cockroaches.

Over 1.3 million Britons who frequent fast-food restaurants are struck with food poisoning every year.

Meanwhile, consumer and public health groups believe that a hygiene rating system at fast-food restaurants might help establishments to operate better under with cleaner standards.

The hygiene rating system has already been put into effect in several cities around the world. In Toronto the scoring system amounts to putting a red, amber, green sign in the establishment window.

In Denmark, there is a Smiley face scheme with four standards ranging from a happy face to a sad down-turned mouth.

In many states around the United States, there is a operating system that uses an A-E ranking.