Why not? Display health inspection scores

In a world where consumers expect more information rather than less and disclosure rather than concealment, the Center for Science in the Public Interest makes a compelling argument for public disclosure of health inspection reports at restaurants. From the CSPI Web site and a release dated Aug. 7:

WASHINGTON—In Atlanta, chicken salad stored at a balmy 50 degrees. Inadequate hand washing in Boston. Mouse droppings in a Minneapolis ice machine. A live roach scampers across a Pittsburgh cutting board. These are some of the gory details uncovered in an analysis by the Center for Science in the Public Interest of 539 restaurant inspection reports from 20 cities. Two-thirds of restaurants had these and other high-risk food safety violations.
Today CSPI, the nonprofit nutrition and food-safety watchdog group, is calling on state and local governments to require restaurants to display food safety letter grades in their front windows. Letter grades have been used in Los Angeles county restaurants for the past 10 years, and that popular measure is credited with reducing the number of hospitalizations due to foodborne illness. Las Vegas and St. Louis have adopted similar measures recently.
Over 40 percent of the outbreaks of foodborne illness were linked to restaurant foods, while only 22 percent were linked to food prepared in private homes, according to CSPI’s Outbreak Alert! database. CSPI’s new review of restaurant inspection reports—which typically covered 6- or 12-month periods—found that 26 percent of restaurants surveyed had contaminated food contact surfaces; 22 percent had improper food holding temperatures, and 16 percent had inadequate hand-washing by employees. Thirteen percent of restaurants had rodent or insect activity documented in their inspection reports.
"A letter grade in the window has proven to be one of the most powerful incentives for restaurants to perform well on inspections," said CSPI staff attorney Sarah A. Klein. "Who wants to eat at a 'C' restaurant if a restaurant next door gets an 'A'? Unfortunately, in many of the cities we looked at, not only are there are no letter grades, but the actual inspection reports are nearly impossible for citizens to obtain or understand."
In Pittsburgh and Washington, DC, restaurant inspection reports are only made available when consumers lodge written requests under those jurisdictions' Freedom of Information Acts. In some cases, CSPI researchers had to make several requests, by mail and telephone, and wait six months to receive the requested reports. In Atlanta and San Francisco, restaurateurs are at least required to keep the most recent inspection report on hand and show it to anyone who asks. Boston, Chicago, Denver, and Philadelphia are beginning to post inspection reports or scores online, but few consumers dig down into their city or county health department’s web site before going out for a sandwich.

"The results of our grading system in Los Angeles have been very positive, with improved restaurant sanitary practices, reduced rates of severe food-borne illness, and high consumer confidence in this key public health regulatory system," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of public health for Los Angeles County. "We appreciate the work of CSPI to encourage greater adoption of this important food safety improvement that can benefit everybody who eats out."
Besides recommending that cities and states adopt the posting of inspection grades, CSPI says the Food and Drug Administration should revise its model food code to include easy-to-understand inspection forms and grading cards. State and local governments use the model food code as the basis for their restaurant inspection practices.

TK: One could argue that posting a negative health inspection score on the door of a restaurant is a kiss of death the already fragile industry could do without. Yet, that same knife hanging over the head of operators could be a powerful incentive to perform well in food handling and preparation. And if consumer health is a top priority for the foodservice industry, there is no credible reason why the public should be denied access to the results of inspection reports.