Mandatory Restaurant Grade Posting
A few weeks ago I was invited to speak to a group of Illinois sanitation inspectors whose job it is to inspect and grade restaurants. My presentation was about how lawyers prove food safety cases. During the talk I asked the sixty or so attendees what they thought about mandatory restaurant grade posting. Surprisingly, at least to me, most were against it. Their comments are summarized as follows:
- Inspections are just “snapshots in time;” what happens on just one day may or may not be indicative of restaurant cleanliness throughout the course of a year
- With so much riding on a sanitation score, the relationship between inspector and restaurant will become contentious and lead to much more administrative action
- Posting restaurant scores is punitive; it’s better to encourage (one inspector from a small town said their practice is to publicize good scores)
- Many low risk violations may lower a score even though there is no real threat to the public.
My reaction to the inspector’s comments is that those concerns can be address in a uniform and fair grading system. And the system can be fine-tuned over time. Overall, the public’s right to know trumps any perceived unfairness to restaurants. Transparency is rarely a bad thing.
