Gold, silver and bronze medals for restaurants too at 2010 Commonwealth Games
Before moving to New Zealand I had no clue what the games of netball or rugby involved, and it’s not to say I am an expert on these sports by any means now, but I at least know how the games are played. Both netball and rugby sevens are approved sports in the Commonwealth Games, a multinational multisport even held every four years in which athletes of the Commonwealth of Nations compete. In 2010 the Commonwealth Games are going to be hosted by Delhi, India, and the country is preparing to introduce a new restaurant inspection disclosure system to ensure athletes and fans do not become sick during the duration of the games, reports F&B News.
During the meeting, the authorities intended to help prevent the infamous "Delhi belly," with a plan called "Safe food, tasty food" under consideration by India's food safety agency that would rate restaurants gold, silver or bronze depending on their food safety and hygiene performance.
It was agreed that the municipal corporation of Delhi (MCD) will identify eating establishments from the list of its licensed establishments who could be taken up for upgradation. These establishments will be trained to upgrade food safety and then audited for awarding the appropriate grade. Besides, the members of National Restaurant Association of India will audit to award them grades.
… Further, the food inspectors of MCD/NDMC (New Delhi municipal council) will assist in identifying food businesses and persuading them to adhere to safety norms prescribed under the rules. Several major hotels of the city are also being invited to adopt food cluster in their vicinity as part of their corporate social responsibility and enable such business improve their standards of food safety.
Cool beans!
Beets, bears, Battlestar Galactica and restaurant inspection
I’ve never been to Saskatchewan, but for some reason whenever I picture the prairie people I picture Dwight Schrute’s beet-lovin’ cousin Mose (pictured right) from The Office. Perhaps the fear on the Saskatchewanonian’s shirts has caused the recent decrease in restaurant inspection website numbers.
The Leader-Post reports that although more than half a million visits have been made to the inspection disclosure website, numbers are declining.
Lisa Piller, food safety consultant with the Ministry of Health explained,
"The initial interest in the website resulted in very high volumes of traffic…”, but traffic to the website has “slowed down” since its high-profile launch two months ago.
The Region of Waterloo in Ontario had a similar problem. I suggested a form of inspection disclosure at the premise, like Scores on Doors in the U.K. or letter grades in L.A. County. Disclosure at the premise may help to keep the food safety dialogue going among consumers and operators, while website popularity is likely to fade.
Or food handlers could wear fear shirts – that would start some chatter.
Georgia restaurants whine about poor inspection grades
Restaurant operators in Newton County, Georgia, are upset about recent inspection results, complaining that the new regulations are too strict, reports CovNews.com.
Community staples like Jim Stalvey’s and Smiley’s restaurants and popular newcomers like Bangkok Grill and Debbie’s Deli and Café have all received failing inspection scores, as low as 44, in the past couple of months. The owners say they’ve had historically good scores and they believe the health inspector for Newton County is unfairly stringent and inconsistent. They say the low scores are a serious issue because their business has substantially declined and some are in danger of shutting down.
Restaurant scores decreased across the state after the Georgia Department of Health adopted more stringent regulations in Dec. 2007, but the scores partially decreased simply because the regulations were new and restaurants had to adjust. Most counties saw significant improvement in scores over the course of 2008 as restaurants worked with health inspectors to learn the new health code.
District Three Commissioner Nancy Schulz said the regulations changed focus from looking more at the facilities before 2008 to looking more at food safety now. She said the guidelines are much more stringent in terms of food handling, food safety, proper temperatures and proper sanitation as opposed to what the facility looks like, although that still plays a part.
However, despite the decline across most of the state, Newton County has continued to see a larger number of "C’s" and "U’s," a failing score, than surrounding counties and other counties across the state.
Restaurant inspection results for Newton County are available online, here.
Restaurant grades on the other side of the world
It’s been just over a week since I landed in Wellington, New Zealand. The Kiwis have been friendly, and I’ve gotten better at understanding the accent (for the most part).
As part of my induction into the food safety group on this side of the world, we journeyed up to Palmerston North, about 2 hours from Wellington. A lunch break Tuesday at Cafe Esplanade was my first sighting of restaurant inspection grades in New Zealand: a bright green A (pictured right) displayed next to the cafe’s cash register. I snapped a few photos, and one of my colleagues commented about me being an obvious tourist.
