NEW ZEALAND: Closed restaurant required to display low inspection grade for two months
Currently living in New Zealand, and having the opportunity to travel around it, I’ve seen my fair share of restaurant inspection grades. Like many other developed countries, letter grades displayed at a food business are popular here, and are meant to relay food safety information to consumers.
In the Auckland region, where many districts have a grading system operating, some districts require a food business to display a low grade for a period of time after they’ve been closed due to risk to public health.
The owner of a west Auckland restaurant forced to close in May because of an infestation of mice has been found guilty and fined.
Waitakere City Council staff carried out a routine inspection of Hobsonville’s Sanjang restaurant earlier this year and were shocked to discover a serious rodent problem among dirty, unhygienic conditions.
Council contract solicitor David Collins, said,
"The officer determined there was a risk of food contamination and required the premises to close.”
"The owner contracted a registered pest control firm who treated the property the same day… The premises were allowed to reopen with an E grading the following day after re-inspection."
Council environmental compliance spokesman Alan Ahmu says the restaurant was only allowed to reopen after it was thoroughly cleaned and had to display an E grade for the next two months.
Mr Ahmu says Sanjang has just passed a reinspection and is now B grade.
I’m still waiting to meet Bret, Jemaine or Rhys from the popular New Zealand show Flight of the Conchords, pictured right.
Halloween decorations hide a poor inspection score
Halloween in New Zealand doesn’t appear to be as hyped-up as North America. I’ve yet to see any houses decorated in Wellington, and the usual surplus of costumes and candy in grocery and department stores is nearly non-existent here. That won’t stop me however; I’ve already begun gathering the fixin’s for my costume.
Meanwhile, a South Carolina restaurant found a way to disguise its most recent bad inspection card – using Halloween decorations to hide the “C” assigned, reports The Item Online.
Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet on Broad Street has received an "A" inspection rating from the Department of Health and Environmental Control. The new grade replaces the "C" handed out on Tuesday for violations of the county health code, which inspector James Arthur said were numerous and serious.
The day after that inspection, the restaurant was cited for permit tampering, after an employee covered the downgraded inspection sticker with Halloween decorations.
Penalties range from a fine of $1,000 to permit suspension, said Arthur. The official notice will stay in the restaurant's file at the health department, he added. They will not face consequences unless it happens again.
On Friday, the restaurant scored a perfect 100 points on their follow-up health inspection. The new sticker, which is unobscured, can be seen on the door, facing the parking lot.
Spooky.
Only A grades on Shortland Street
.jpg)
While living in Doug and Amy’s basement I watched a lot of bad TV – we all did. Since moving to New Zealand little has changed. Instead of the Real Housewives of New York or DOOL, I now watch Shortland Street every night at 7pm.
Last night while two of the characters were scandalously dining I recognized a restaurant grading card in the background, an A grade. The program is filmed and set in Auckland, New Zealand.
The picture is a little shotty, but so is the acting.
Disclosing inspection results online is great, but only if the websites are up-to-date
Two
From the story,
The Chicago Department of Public Health said two Northwest Side restaurants remained closed Wednesday after being shut due to alleged health code violations. Both restaurants were closed Tuesday, and one failed a re-inspection on Wednesday, according to a news release from the CDPH.
A Burger King at 6400 W. Irving Park Rd. was shut down when CDPH inspectors found no hot water on premises, mold in an automatic ice maker, front and rear doors with gaps that could allow access to rodents and insects, and a poorly maintained outside garbage bin with trash overflowin..[On re-inspection] inspectors still found mold in the ice machine and a gap in the front door…
Also closed Tuesday and remaining closed Wednesday was the Seo Hae restaurant at 3534 W. Lawrence Ave…It was closed after inspectors found mouse feces throughout the facility, sewage backing up at two sinks, mold in an automatic ice machine, and no certified food manager on duty….
Both restaurants will have to fix all the health concerns and pass re-inspections before reopening, the CDPH said.
A quick search in the online database reveals inspection results for both the Buger King and Seo Hae, but neither is up-to-date. Making inspection information publicly available is great – consumers want, and businesses can profit from it too – but only if this information is kept current with the most recent inspection results.
And if a restaurant closure isn’t scary enough, Burger King has that awful mascot (pictured right).
Georgia grocers don't display grades
I’ve been known to buy the odd slice of pizza or bucket of fried chicken from the ready-to-eat counter of grocery stores, often a result of shopping on an empty stomach. And truthfully, I’ve never thought much about how these food establishments were inspected, perhaps assuming they fell under the local health department’s umbrella, like most restaurants.
An article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution indicates my assumptions may not always be correct. The story indicates that in the state of Georgia salad bars and ready-to-eat food counters in grocery stores are not inspected the same way as restaurants, nor are they required to publically display their inspection grade like restaurants in this state.
Local health departments inspect restaurants, and the state requires eateries to post the reports prominently on site, using a clear point system and letter grade.
The state Agriculture Department — the same state agency that was responsible for inspecting the peanut plant linked to the nation’s deadly salmonella outbreak — inspects grocery stores. But it doesn’t issue points or grades, and stores don’t have to post their most recent report.
In Georgia restaurants are required to display an “A” “B” “C” or “U” (for unsatisfactory) letter grade and numerical score near the establishment entrance so that patrons can make an informed dining decision. This includes drive-thru windows and other take-out entrances; unfortunately, since grocery store ready-to-eat counters aren’t inspected by the same department as other food establishments, customers won’t see a letter grade at these counters.
Sarah Klein, of the food safety program at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest, said of public posting of restaurant grades,
“Once they know that an inspection report is going to be published, there is an incentive created to make food safety a priority. It is something you have to do because, otherwise, your business … will suffer.”
I agree. Restaurant disclosure systems can be an incentive for those within foodservice to increase compliance with regulations, while providing the public with inspection results to make an informed decision. If other Georgia foodservice establishments are required to put the score on their door, why not the fried chicken counter in the grocery store?
Public posting of restaurant inspection grades in NYC
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Saturday a plan for the city to adopt a public disclosure system for restaurant inspection results, reports the New York Times. The plan, to be put in place over the next two years, will use a letter-grade system similar to that of L.A. County, in which establishments are required to display an A, B, or C in a visible location (such as a window – see right, Jessica Simpson), to compliment information on the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene website.
Currently food establishments in NYC are inspected once a year, but the new plan would change this.
Under the plan, restaurants receiving an A grade would stay on a yearly inspection cycle. Those with B grades would get two inspections, and those with C grades would get three. Those with public-health hazards will be closed until violations are corrected.
According to Bloomberg,
This new system will encourage the less sanitary restaurants to clean up -- and won’t punish the good guys. As sanitation improves, so will business. The more residents and tourists can trust the food they buy in New York City restaurants, the more likely they are to patronize them.
The goal of restaurant inspection is to promote a safe food environment, which in turn may reduce the incidence of foodborne illness in a community. Restaurant disclosure systems are a means of communicating this information to the public, and enhance consumer confidence in food prepared away from home. Though more research needs to focus on the best way to communicate these results to the public, through grades, scores, smiley-faces etc., it does get the public talking about food safety.
