All premises in England that sell food should be forced to display hygiene ratings to drive up standards and protect consumers from the risk of eating food prepared and cooked in unsanitary kitchens, local councils said on Monday.

Council environmental health teams score outlets from zero to five based on factors such as kitchen cleanliness, cooking methods and food management, but businesses in England do not have to display the so-called “scores on the doors” ratings they have been given. Compulsory ratings already exist in Wales and will be introduced in Northern Ireland in October.

The Local Government Association (LGA) is calling for mandatory display to be extended to England to help raise food hygiene standards at restaurants, pubs, cafes, takeaways, sandwich shops, supermarkets and delicatessens, and to reassure consumers.

The hygiene scores for more than 412,000 English premises can currently be found on the Food Standards Agency’s website. Businesses across England should by law be forced have to display their stickers at their premises or face fines or prosecution if they fail to comply, according to the LGA, which represents more than 370 councils in England and Wales.

“Anyone in England who sees a business without a hygiene rating sticker currently has to decide if they want to eat or buy food there without knowing what’s going on in the kitchen” said councillor Simon Blackburn, the chair of the LGA’s safer and stronger communities board.

“It’s not always easy for people to judge hygiene standards simply by walking through the front door of a premise and know whether they are about to be served a ‘dodgy’ burger or kebab that could pose a serious risk to their health.

“Councils always take action to tackle poor or dangerous hygiene and improve conditions and see first-hand what shockingly can go on behind closed doors at rogue food premises.

“Businesses have recently been prosecuted for being riddled with mice or cockroach infestations, rodent droppings on food and caught with a chef smoking when preparing food.”

Mandatory display of food hygiene ratings is supported by the consumer organisation Which?, the Chartered Institute for Environmental Health and many environmental health officers.

Last year Gordon Ramsay’s Maze restaurant in Mayfair, London, scored just two out of five after inspectors found cockroaches on the premises. Immediate steps were taken and Maze now scores top marks.

The LGA released details of recent food safety breaches, including in Croydon where more than 100 food outlets failed to meet expected hygiene standards last year, including 22 on a single street.

One of the largest fines ever levied for food hygiene offences was imposed on a company operating two Croydon 99p stores. It was fined ￡154,000 in November 2015 after admitting seven breaches of food safety and hygiene laws. Both shops were found to have large mouse infestations when Croydon council food and safety officers visited.

Liverpool city council health inspectors found a mice infestation at a city centre branch of Costa Coffee, which was fined ￡13,200 in court in March. The business agreed to a voluntary closure and admitted three charges of breaching food safety and hygiene laws. Liverpool council has since awarded it a five-star hygiene rating after successfully dealing with the problem.