Marketing the hell out of restaurant inspection results
That’s what Wayne Strong, president of Ye Old Walkerville Bed & Breakfast in Windsor, ON wants to do with his latest inspection score, reports the Windsor Star.
The star-rating system called Safe Food Counts will be rolled out over the next few months as businesses [in Windsor-Essex County] are inspected.
Strong embraces the public disclosure system, saying,
"Once you are, as a facility, able to get five stars, market the hell out of it. A community that is enlightened about the system will look for a five-star place. I welcome this. I think for people who do the right thing, this is an affirmation of what I'm doing is right."
Strong’s got the right attitude. Establishments that have nothing to hide will embrace the public disclosure system, and see it as an opportunity to market food safety.
Some restaurant workers like Derek Dulyk, of Market Place restaurant in the Holiday Inn Select, are weary of the system, and feel a description of infractions should be posted along side star-ratings at an establishment,
"If you get a four over a five star because a paper towel dispenser is jammed, if it's something as minor as that, I think your customers should be aware"
There are many systems to communicate inspection results to the public. Some use disclosure at the door, others websites. Either way consumers are interested in this information, and it’s a good thing when it’s made publicly available.
Handwashing on South Park, restaurant inspection on the Hills, Chapman vomiting
I have a bunch of food safety images but no literate story line.
So here they are, food safety in public.
And I told Chapman I’d stop using this picture of him barfing if he ever got his PhD. I’ll probably still use it.
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The Hills and restaurant inspection disclosure
The Hills is probably the worst thing on TV. My 14-year-old daughter watched the Hills marathons while in Florida with us last August. Now we watch it on DVR, Katie’s totally hooked, and daughter Courtlynn doesn’t even watch it.
With a baby, there’s a lot of bad TV on in the background.
On tonight’s episode LC and Stephanie go into some restaurant and there’s an A in the window. So yeah for restaurant inspection disclosure.
And someone tried to speak French during the episode. Amy said it was horrible.
Waterloo website numbers wither away
Some jurisdictions, like the Region of Waterloo in Canada, have websites to disclose restaurant inspection reports to the public. Others, a ‘scores on doors’ approach, like the proposed grade postings in NYC.
Restaurant disclosure systems are designed to communicate restaurant inspection information to the public, and to be most effective these methods have to be eye-catching and informative. The Waterloo website alone isn’t attracting as much public attention as it used to, and is looking to change this, reports The Record.
The website which once recorded more than a million visits in its first year, is now receiving only 300,000 visits a year, but the region proposes to change this,
The health unit is considering trying to increase the site's popularity by having restaurants voluntarily post signs promoting it.
The wording hasn't been determined, but the signs might provide a two-year history of an establishment's violations under the provincial Health Protection and Promotion Act. Or the signs might just refer restaurant visitors to the website for the safety history of all local establishments.
The health unit should consider the first, posting restaurant inspection results on the premises of food establishments – it seems to have kept website numbers in neighboring jurisdictions Toronto and Niagara regular. These jurisdictions combine postings in the form of pass/conditional pass/ fail at the establishment on coloured cards, with the municipality website. And the combination seems to work.
Though there is often some negative feedback associated with these disclosure cards on the premises, a “Conditional pass” sign in the window of an establishment, like that pictured right, would likely spark consumers to check the website for farther details of the inspection. A sign in the window saying “Visit the Region of Waterloo website for farther inspection details” may not be as effective.
KATIE FILION: Sudbury should make scores public, eh? Batta-boom batta-bing.
Last month while visiting friends in Sudbury, Ontario, we ate at East Side Mario’s restaurant – I love the unlimited salad and breadsticks. Though I didn’t have any problems with my meal, a patron who ate lunch at the Lasalle boulevard restaurant Dec. 30 did, and voiced a complaint to the Sudbury District Health Unit, according to the Sudbury Star.
"The patron complained about employees coughing on food, improper employee hand washing and a lack of hot water. A visit by the health inspector the next day didn’t reveal any violations, but it was recommended the restaurant review food education and handling practices with its employees. After a follow-up inspection resulted in a charge for lack of sanitizer in the mechanical glass washer, vice-president of operations at East Side Mario’s decided to close the restaurant. Employees from East Side Mario’s head office were sent in to help the local site return to company standards.
Though charges for the Lasalle Boulevard restaurant were made public it’s not typical of health and safety infractions in the Sudbury district. Here people must phone and ask about any problems at a restaurant or food store and receive either a verbal or written report about inspection reports, closures and convictions, said Stacey Laforest, manager of the health unit's environmental division.
There are better ways to communicate restaurant inspection results than simply disclosing information to curious consumers who call in. Many health units in North America are making results available via websites, like the Toronto, Ontario website DineSafe (http://app.toronto.ca/food2/DineSafeMain); or mandatory posting of inspection score cards (in the form of letter, grade, color, or smiley-face schemes) near the entrance of premises. Increasing the availability and display of food safety information will raise overall awareness, and push food establishments to better themselves. The Greater Sudbury district could benefit from such disclosure methods.
Katie Filion is a soon-to-be graduate student at Kansas State University who currently resides in Doug and Amy's basement.
Restaurant inspection disclosure: Build it and they will come
Baseball is sooooooooo boring.
But I’ll use any metaphor and pop culture reference to get people to pay attention to food safety stuf.
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Even if it involves baseball.
The restaurant inspection disclosure web site in Nova Scotia – that’s in Canada – has been overwhelmed with hits since going on-line.
That’s normal. From Sydney to Scranton, the provision of restaurant inspection results is always a big hit with the public.
What’s not normal is the response from Luc Erjavec, of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, who said it’s no biggie and that the $325,000 the province spent to create the online database could have been used to stimulate the restaurant sector.
"Maybe we could spend a half million dollars stimulating our industry. Stimulating our industry would be a better way to do it."
OOOOOhhhhhhhh. Such sexy talk.
But, as the Herald Chronicle reports this morning, millions of people went to the Agriculture Department’s website in the days following its launch in October, Leo Muise, executive director of regulation and compliance for food safety, said Wednesday.
"The first week was what we consider to be an almost unbelievable response. It seems to be going over well."
On the second day alone, about 1.5 million people checked out the food-safety inspections of restaurants and other businesses. The numbers gradually dropped over the next few months and now about 1,000 people a week use the site to look up the records for several eateries at a time.
The Chronicle Herald published a series of stories in 2006 and 2007 that exposed deficiencies in Nova Scotia’s system of inspecting restaurants. The inspection reports obtained by this newspaper noted infractions such as rodents, unsafe meat and cross-contamination of food.
At the time, the department wasn’t in favour of creating public online access to a database of inspections and cited concerns that such a practice might be bad for business at some restaurants.
Now, substitute “hockey” for “baseball” in the video clip below.
Clean Crab award sinks in Baltimore
In May 2008, the Baltimore Health Department proposed the Clean Crab award, the image of a meticulous crab, hung perhaps at a restaurant's threshold, to alert people to Baltimore's cleanest dining establishments.
Yesterday, health types decided to cleanse themselves of crabs.
Instead, the Baltimore Examiner reports, a prize ribbon decal will recognize those with a solid record of sanitation for the Charm City Health Award for Excellence in Sanitation.
Olivia Farrow, assistant commissioner of the environmental health division of the Baltimore City Health Department, said,
"[The crab] is a bottom-feeder, so it's probably not a good image."
'I'd like a large pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms and band-aid'
A pizza topped with a band-aid has landed a southern Sydney Dominos Pizza on an Australian state government's name and shame list of food safety infringements.
The New South Wales Food Authority name and shame website currently contains 317 businesses with 502 fines issued.
Primary Industries Ian Macdonald said the list was designed to stop individuals and companies that cut corners on food safety for consumers.
"The fines have been for a range of breaches including dirty premises, allowing pests into food preparation areas and inappropriate temperature control of foods.”
The website, has had over 1.4 million visitors since it was launched in July.
Restaurant inspection results finally on-line in Nova Scotia (it's in Canada)
Jessica Simpson can now find out the results of the latest inspection should she go dining in Nova Scotia – but only via the Internet (and not in the window like these pics of L.A.).
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A database of food establishment inspection reports was launched Oct. 28, by Agriculture Minster Brooke Taylor.
Reports will be posted within two or three days of inspections. They will show deficiencies, the action taken, warnings issued and closure notices for facilities.
Luc Erjavec of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association welcomed the new online system as something that will benefit restaurateurs and their customers.
"It’s a system that’s going to be open and transparent. With all that’s been going on in the world with food safety, I think the public is sensitive to food safety issues and this is one more thing that could help ease any concerns."
Costa Elles, president of the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia, said restaurateurs have nothing to fear and the system will probably improve food safety.
"It sets a standard and I think we should be accountable for what we do and that’s just giving us some accountability.”
The inspection reports are available on the Department of Agriculture's website at www.gov.ns.ca/agri/foodsafety/reports/.
Trendy Sydney restaurant named and shamed; no fridge thermometer
Bills, the trendy Darlinghurst eatery that helped make ricotta hotcakes an inner-city breakfast staple, has become the first upmarket Sydney establishment named on the State Government's list of restaurants fined for breaching food safety laws (right, actor Hugh Jackman and family headed to breakfast at Bills).The Liverpool Street restaurant, one of three Sydney eateries owned by the celebrity chef Bill Granger, has been fined $660 for failing to comply with the food safety code.
Just two days after the NSW Food Authority began publishing a register on its website of restaurants caught breaching food laws, a City of Sydney inspector fined Bills for failing to have a thermometer in its refrigerator.
Last night, Bills said in a statement it was "shocked at this isolated incident and we took care of it immediately. … We do everything we can to do the right thing by our customers and to empower our workers to also do the right thing."
Try harder. And pay attention to the basics.
Name and Shame of restaurants: works in Sydney, sucks in Melbourne
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As Jason Dowling reports in Melbourne’s daily paper, The Age,Dozens of city food businesses, including restaurants and cafes, have been prosecuted for breaching food hygiene laws in the past five years — but Melbourne City Council will not reveal who they are. …
The council's inability to name restaurants with poor hygiene records comes as a "name and shame" food hygiene website in New South Wales had attracted 25,000 visitors in its first month.
The NSW Government has boasted the new website improved consumer information and "provides a powerful incentive for the food industry to boost its performance".
Melbourne City Councillor David Wilson was cited as saying the council did not support wider disclosure of poor hygiene discoveries at restaurants, adding,
"We believe that it is not appropriate for details of prosecutions to be released as restaurants may have changed management since the prosecution or they may not have breached food safety regulations since the initial prosecution and publication of a past prosecution could severely impact the viability of the current business.”
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Councillor Wilson, I bet you won’t have the vote of my friend, Melbourne Milton (left, exactly as shown) next election. Milton wants to see the results of restaurant inspections and is so astute he said he knew the results didn't really meant anything, didn’t make the food any safer and were just a snapshot in time, but the public disclosure made people more aware of food safety issues and people talked about it.Even Durham Region in Ontario, Canada, is going to start with the red, yellow, green system of restaurant inspection disclosure.
Melbourne, figure it out. People who spend money in your restaurants should have access to inspection data if they want. Or they should take their money elsewhere.
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Bastille Day in Melbourne: Kangaroo at a French restaurant
So asked the older woman as she perused the menu at one of Southbank’s eateries along the Yarra river in Melbourne, Australia.I’ve been to Melbourne many times over the years, including a brief solo trip last year once my visa was approved. No troubles this time, my moral turpitude is apparently valid and it’s a lot nicer to be here with Amy. And she brought me.
This is Milton and me (left, exactly as shown). We were basking in the Melbourne sunshine this a.m. along Southbank, and struck up a conversation with Milton. He says he likes the stars system that is apparently being used as a form of restaurant inspection disclosure in some parts of Victoria, and he wants to see more. Milton said (unprompted) that he didn’t think the stars really meant anything, didn’t make the food any safer and was just a snapshot in time, but it made people more aware of food safety issues and people talked about it.Couldn’t have said it better.
Amy and I are in Melbourne until Sunday. She has a conference, I plan to write and hang out in cafes on Lygon Street.
Fly in frozen baguette among food safety complaints
The report by principal food safety officer Alan Yates also reveals that officials sent 1,168 warning letters to establishments alerting them to contraventions of public health legislation.The report also shows officers carried out 2,958 visits across the north in connection with food hygiene, and 826 in connection with food standards – the composition and labelling of food.
The report comes as the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has proposed a UK-wide system to grade the hygiene of restaurants, cafes, supermarkets and other food outlets.
The results would be displayed on doors or windows, as well as on a website to allow consumers to check ratings, in an effort to improve standards and cut food poisoning.
The agency believes a national scheme is needed to replace the plethora of "scores on doors", with nearly half the 435 local authorities already having or being about to introduce their own systems. In some areas, consumers and the media have had to use freedom of information legislation to find out the verdict of hygiene inspectors.
Reese and Jake brighten restaurant inspection disclosure
Here, Gyllenspoon pick up their morning drinks at Caffe Luxxe on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, California on Sunday.A philosophy of transparency and openness underlies the efforts of many local health units across North America in seeking to make available the results of restaurant inspections. Such public displays of information may help bolster overall awareness of food safety amongst staff and the public -- people routinely talk about this stuff. It's all about that food safety culture.
In Baltimore, Clean Crab award for clean restaurants?
The Baltimore Sun reports that the Health Department would like to use the Clean Crab award, the image of a meticulous crab, hung perhaps at a restaurant's threshold, to alert people to Baltimore's most sanitary dining establishments.
Olivia Farrow, the city's assistant commissioner for environmental health, said, "The consumer should know. We just wanted to try and really empower consumers."
But a Clean Crab?
Joe Edwardsen, owner of Joe Squared Pizza and Bar on North Avenue, said,
"Crabs are nasty. Crabs are disgusting. You don't see raw crab sushi out there, do you?"
The Real Housewives of Orange County demand restaurant inspection disclosure
But a grand jury report released Thursday says that Orange County could better protect people from food poisoning and other dining dangers by requiring restaurants to post letter grades based on their health inspections.Almost every other county in Southern California has already adopted “A-B-C” restaurant grades, according to the grand jury report. Los Angeles County created its grading system ten years ago and saw hospitalizations caused by bad food fall by nearly 30 percent in the first 3 years, the grand jury noted.
Those results remain contentious. But public disclosure does lead to some sort of public discussion, and perhaps, contributes to a culture of microbiologically safe food.
Restaurant inspection results in Australia? Not happening
When Britain got freedom of information laws three years ago, one of the first decisions by the information commissioner was to rule that results of restaurant inspections carried out by public servants were public information. He said what's obvious to most people: it is in the public interest for people to know what inspectors found.His decision was in line with what's been happening for decades in America, where restaurant inspection results are as common as restaurant reviews. And for good reason.
The New South Wales state minister responsible justified his decision to ignore what Britain and US are doing this way. "I am not saying any country is wrong, but this is Australia."
Meanwhile in Melbourne, the Victorian Government has rejected a plan to set up a website to publicly name and shame dodgy restaurants convicted for food safety breaches.
"The Government is not inclined at present to support the establishment of a central website."
The Age reports that a review by the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission has concluded that the Government could save about $34 million a year by paring back red tape for food standards, particularly for charities, schools and community groups.
I got my views published in Sydney last May. Restaurant inspection results should be public -- although research is needed to figure out the most effective way to provide that information -- and anyone who handles food should have some basic training.
Don't eat poop.
While you were sleeping
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Doug's most recent post on BarfBlog emphasized the need for public communications about food safety to be rapid, reliable, repeated and relevant. He noted that the produce outbreaks of 2006 marked significant changes in how stories were being told on Internet-based networking like YouTube, wikipedia, and blogs.The Internet is a wild world. And while companies are paying think tanks big bucks to brainstorm strategies to reach the millions of people that are flocking to new platforms like YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and the blogosphere, it would be wise to pay attention to what is already being said.
Last night (while I was sleeping), a kitchen employee commented on a Barfblog post that I created to highlight how restaurant inspection reports are made public in Manhattan, Kansas. He had the following to say:
"Everything that article mentions is true, and I KNOW from experience there have been an Incalcuable amount of unrecorded violations that occur in that disgusting kitchin. I know because I've cooked there since february."
SO... do you know what is being said online about your business? And how would you/are you dealing with the discussion?
Are Manhattan's (KS) Houlihan's staff still acclimatizing?
Last night as I was flipping through the local newspaper for Manhattan, Kansas (population ca. 50, 000) I stopped when I came across its 'foodSAFETY' column for area food inspections which (evidently) is published weekly in Tuesday's Food & Drink section. Very cool. Even cooler was that the paper published the inspection findings for one of the town's newest restaurants -- Houlihan's -- which is but a 5 minute walk from where I'm living. Ouch... the findings are not good. See for yourself. When the restaurant opened on February 2nd, the Kansas State Collegian, reported that managers chose not to advertise the opening of the restaurant to allow employees to acclimate to the full 170-person capacity. Based on this report, I would say that almost three months later employees are still acclimatizing. It will be interesting to see (and hear about) the impact that this report has on the restaurant's business, and of course on the staff's attention to food safety.
