Food safety

Investigation

The number in the window: how old the hygiene rating is, which chains keep failing, and where the poisoned go

We downloaded every food hygiene rating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and snapshots back to 2019. A quarter are over two years old, big brands are almost never marked down, franchised chicken shops and corner-shop fascias are, and customers who get ill almost never reach anyone who counts.

Analysis

Who paid for the science on aspartame? We followed the money through 40 years of studies

Britain swapped sugar for sweeteners in 2018 and has not measured what children drink since 2003. We read the cancer rulings, the regulators' files and the funding lines of the key studies. Industry paid for much of the reassurance. The evidence shows no cancer link. Nobody in the UK is checking.