UK: Restaurant receives Michelin stars, but no food safety stars
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The Star Inn restaurant in North Yorkshire has been closed after more than 80 customers developed symptoms of vomiting and diarrhoea, reports YorkPress.co.uk.
The Star Inn has won a raft of prestigious awards since 1996, including a Michelin star, the Egon Ronay Gastropub of the Year title and, most recently, The Good Pub Guide County Dining Pub of the Year for 2010.
Jacquie Pern, who jointly runs the venue with her husband, leading chef Andrew Pern, said yesterday,
“We can confirm that The Star restaurant is temporarily closed as a precautionary measure. Early indications are consistent with a viral incident. We are taking the matter very seriously and are co-operating with the health authorities and look forward to returning to our normal food standard as soon as possible.”
A spokesman for Ryedale District Council said,
“More than 80 people are known to have developed symptoms after eating at the restaurant between October 18 and October 28. A number of restaurant staff are also known to be affected by symptoms.”
Upon reading the story I immediately went to Scores on the Doors website, which lists a restaurant’s food safety-star rating based on the most recent inspection. The Star Inn is located in an area of North Yorkshire which appears to not yet be registered with the Scores on the Doors programme. Although Michelin stars are nice, I’d rather know the restaurant’s food safety rating.
Inspection results at the door, but in what form?
This morning, while drinking morning tea and perusing my Google Alerts, I came across a few stories on restaurant inspection disclosure systems. Another district in Connecticut has adopted symbols to aid consumer interpretation of inspection scores, while a city in New Mexico proposes changing from a pass-fail system to letter grades.
Stamford, CT will be the third district in the state to use symbols to disclose restaurant inspection results to the public, reports the Stamford Advocate Online. While Farmington Valley and Norwalk districts use waiter and lighthouse symbols respectively, Stamford will use smiling chef faces.
Three beaming hats is excellent and translates into a score from 90 to 100 with no four-point (the most serious) hygiene or storage violations. Two hats is acceptable and either mean a score of 80 to 96 with up to one four-point violation and less than four risk factors. One hat indicates poor levels of compliance with a score below 80 or more than two four-point violations or more than four risk factor violations…The idea has been in the works for six years, health department director Dr. Johnnie Lee said.
Results for Stamford are also available online, here.
Meanwhile, restaurants in Albuquerque, NM may be changing from a pass-fail disclosure at the door system to an A, B, C system, reports DukeCityFood.com.
Go to any other large city and you’ll see lots of restaurants with big “A”s or “B”s in their windows. Sometimes you’ll see a “C”. In fact, many chowhounds will insist that an ethnic restaurant graded “A” can’t really be all that good or authentic – it’s the B and C ones worth seeking out. To bring the Duke City in line with all of these other progressive urban areas, it has been proposed that we, too, use the ABC method. And let the battle begin!
It’s the New Mexico Restaurant Association vs. City of Albuquerque and city councillor Trudy Jones! Each has their own talking points, arguments, and rebuttals. Here they are in a nutshell:
City of Albuquerque: “The old rules are outdated and behind the times and we must change them.”
NMRA: “The new rules embrace new technology but badge restaurants for six months based on inspection results that were likely fixed on the spot.”
Why doesn’t someone ask consumers, operators and inspectors which disclosure method they like?
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.
Scores on doors or online
Two US counties have recently adopted systems to communicate restaurant inspection results with the public. They aren’t the first, likely won’t be the last, and demonstrate two different approaches to inspection disclosure.
The first is Calhoun county, MI, which has recently began posting inspection results online, reports the Battlecreek Enquirer.
The idea is to reward facilities that run a tight ship and to encourage the dirtiest ones to clean up their act, public health officials said.
Jim Rutherford, county health officer, explained,
"This is public information. It always has been. You could have gone and accessed this as a resident any time. What we're doing is just making it easily accessible to the public."
Calhoun county inspection results can be accessed online, here, but details of inspection are lacking – the website only indicates if an establishment is “In compliance” or “Non compliant.”
Darien, CT has adopted disclosure at the premise, with inspection cards mandatorily being displayed at the premise, reports DarienTimes.com.
The rating must be posted in a conspicuous location clearly visible to the public near the current permit and remain posted until the next scheduled inspection…There are three possible ratings: good, fair and poor. Good and fair ratings do not require any changes.
Should a restaurant receive a poor rating, it has two weeks to clean up its act before a re-inspection.
Though there is some concern regarding the “Fair” card, Health Director David Knave feels the system will provide incentive for restaurants to have “clean and healthy practices,” and,
“This is an extra tool in addition to the inspection. That’s the intent here, to have ‘fair’ be a label you don’t want…Something to push them in the right direction.”
Both disclosure systems have the same main goal: provide incentives for those within foodservice to meet health requirements, while providing the public with information they desire and deserve.
UK: Done with dirty dining
The star-rating posted outside restaurants and pubs in Cumbria, England is making it safer for diners, reports News & Star. The county adopted the Scores on Doors scheme in 2007, which awards a maximum of five stars to establishments with high inspection scores, has noted a decrease in the number of “high-risk” premises.
Ruth Harland, an environmental health officer with 34 years experience, explained,
“The number [of high-risk establishments] we used to have to inspect every 12 months has reduced by 50 per cent. Because of the improvements they’ve made, they’ve moved up to 18…The general standard has been lifted.”
So successful is the scheme, it’s due to be extended to every local authority in the country.
Harland continued,
“It’s great from the consumer point of view because it allows them to make an informed choice about where they buy their food and eat out.”
However, like any program it has its flaws, and has experienced push-back from.jpg)
some operators.
“It’s all about attitudes. The scheme has been going long enough now for people to know what they need to do to improve. There are still 10 premises that have no stars and I think some people just don’t want to make the improvements. It’s laziness, a lack of understanding and, in some cases, a lack of finance. I’d be reluctant to eat at a premises with no stars.”
So would I Ruth, so would I. It’s all about operator attitudes and, as Doug always says, creating a culture of food safety.
UK restaurant Riz Raz resembles a farmyard
Health inspectors from Brighton and Hove City Council said the conditions of Riz Raz Egyptian restaurant reminded them of a farmyard, reports The Argus.
[I]nspectors revealed how grime and cigarette ends were found on work surfaces at Riz Raz - despite two previous warnings. The eaterie, in Western Road, which had cobwebs and grease hanging from the cooker hood, did not even have hot water for workers to wash their hands.
The owner of Riz Raz, Alaa Asfour, was fined £5,650 after admitting to breaking 17 food hygiene regulations.
Nicholas Wilmot, one of the council's environmental health managers, said he found floors blackened with dirt and grease on walls and pipes.
He continued,
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“I advised Mr. Asfour that conditions in the cooking area were so filthy that it reminded me of a farmyard.”
Scores on Doors is a restaurant disclosure system in the UK that uses star-ratings posted at the establishment to communicate inspection results to the public. I would assume Riz Raz’s latest star-rating was around zero-out-of-five stars, however I can’t confirm this as the restaurant isn’t in the online database of results.
Restaurant inspection cards: green and clean in Durham region
Restaurant disclosure systems, like letter grades in L.A. or coloured cards in Toronto, communicate restaurant inspection results to patrons. This week Durham Region in Ontario launched DineSafe, a food safety inspection disclosure program that uses coloured cards to communicate inspection scores. Green, yellow or red cards must be posted at food establishments, similar to the disclosure system in Toronto.
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According to newsdurhamregion.com, during the first day 30 restaurants were inspected, with only two receiving yellow cards, and the remainder receiving green cards.
On Monday March 2, the first round of inspections under DineSafe resulted in two yellow cards, for the Akashia Japanese and Korean restaurant on Kingston Road West in Ajax and Wie Geht's Amigo on King Avenue East in Newcastle.
Ken Gorman, director of environmental health for Durham, said the Ajax restaurant received a yellow because of the level of cleanliness of food contact surfaces, food storage issues which could result in possible contamination and temperature abuse. The Newcastle restaurant's citations included food not being stored at the proper temperature, lack of paper towels and soap at the food and hand sink areas and sanitation problems with the floor, walls and equipment.
Both restaurants have been re-inspected and received green cards.
Gorman indicated he expects about 80 per cent of establishments will earn a green this year, and things are going well with the new program. He continued,
"Some people are very excited ... one got their green sign and they were cheering and clapping.”
In Durham Region the frequency of restaurant inspection is based on risk. High risk establishments are inspected three times per year, moderate risk twice a year, and low risk once a year. Overall inspection scores determine the colour of the sign issued to an establishment, green indicating a pass, yellow indicating substantial incompliance with provincial rules, and red indicating establishment closure.
Increased compliance after posting inspection results
Restaurant inspection disclosure systems, like the ‘Scores on Doors’ scheme in the UK or online databases available in some states, are ways to display inspection information to consumers. Many jurisdictions are adopting these systems after positive consumer reception, and increase in compliance among restaurants in jurisdictions where disclosure programs have been implemented.
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In the Canadian province of New Brunswick, public posting of restaurant inspection results has resulted in improved compliance, reports Times & Transcript.
One year after the health department started posting inspection reports on its website for everyone to see, officials have seen a definite increase in compliance by restaurants who want to make a good impression.
Nina van der Pluijm, regional director for health protection programs for the New Brunswick Department of Health, says,
"Compliance has gone up and if our inspectors find something, the restaurants want to hurry up and comply. If we give them five days to fix something, they usually say they'll have it done in two days and want us to come back for the re-inspection."
In New Brunswick restaurants are inspected, unannounced, every one to three years depending on their risk category. Establishments are termed satisfactory, unsatisfactory, minor infraction, major infraction and critical infraction; and respectively color-coded green, yellow, dark yellow, red with warning stripes and critical red, indicating a shutdown.
van der Pluijm indicated the program has gotten good feedback from the public and the food service industry, but like most disclosure systems, there is concern regarding the manner in which grades are presented to the public.
Luc Erjavec, a spokesman for the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association in Halifax, indicated industry generally doesn’t like color-coding schemes since the public may not try to understand it.
"They might look and see a yellow and move on without taking the time to see why, and the reports could give a restaurant a bad name for a relatively minor incident."
This may be true, but it may also encourage establishments to strive for a higher level of food safety. During development of the Toronto disclosure system – with green, yellow and red cards – a similar situation was encountered (right, above). Establishments didn’t want to receive yellow cards, and as a result over time yellow cards became nearly non-existent, being replaced by green pass.
There are many ways to communicate inspection results to the public, and each has pros and cons, but these schemes help to increase overall awareness of food safety amongst restaurant staff and the public.
As van der Pluijm said,
"The public likes to know what is going on and be able to read a report on a certain restaurant, see the ranking and be able to see what they did to get that ranking."
