Two Waveney businesses have been awarded for their commitment to offering healthier food choices to their customers.

Greggs in Beccles and Richardson's Family Bowl in Lowestoft have each been presented with an Eat Out Eat Well award.

Greggs, based in New Market, achieved a gold award while Richardson's in Rant Score achieved a silver.

Both businesses were presented with their awards by Mary Rudd, deputy mayor of Lowestoft and Waveney's cabinet member for community health and safety.

Cllr Rudd said: 'I would like to congratulate both businesses on achieving an Eat Out Eat Well award, given for offering healthier options to customers. The award recognises a food businesses' commitment to providing healthier food choices and any restaurant, pub, café or food retailer in Suffolk is eligible to apply, free of charge. Customers are also advised to look for the 'Eat Out Eat Well' symbol when choosing where to eat.'

To qualify for an Eat Out Eat Well award, businesses must be assessed by Environmental Health officers and show their commitment to providing healthier choices. This includes keeping fat, sugar and salt to a minimum, making fruit and vegetables widely available and basing main meals on starchy carbohydrates. The level of award is based on a scoring system that takes into account the type of food on offer, cooking methods, and how businesses promote healthy choices to their customers.

Thirty food businesses across east Suffolk have also been awarded top ratings for their dedication to hygiene and excellent approach to food safety.

These include nine in Waveney who have been given a Food Hygiene Rating of '5/very good' following inspections in December by the councils' food and safety team.

They are Beccles Kebab and Bombay Restaurant in Beccles, Central England Co-op in Carlton Colville, Hungry Hogz in Kessingland, Kerry's Cafe & Tearooms, Papa John's Pizza, Red Oak Primary School, St Benedicts Pre-School and The Food Warehouse, all in Lowestoft.

Each business was checked for how hygienically food is handled, the condition of the structure of the buildings and how the business manages and records what it does to make sure food is safe.