The state Department of Health’s plan to establish a highly visible grading system for all 10,000 restaurants and food establishments in the state is laudable, but the customer-friendly food-safety regulations will succeed only if the department has enough inspectors on the job and efficiently manages a permitting program that carries high stakes for the restaurants, bars, school cafeterias and other eateries being inspected.
In the first major update of the regulations in 17 years, the health department proposes to implement a new color-coded grading system — green, yellow or red — that will be quickly and easily understood by paying customers. All retail food establishments, from fine-dining restaurants to food trucks, school cafeterias and coffeehouses, would be issued a placard to post in the front window after inspection.
Green signals the eatery passed muster with no more than one major food-safety violation, which was corrected or mitigated at the time of the inspection; yellow signals conditional approval, with two or more major violations that must be corrected within 24 to 72 hours; and red means the eatery was closed down for major violations that pose an imminent threat to public health, such as overflowing sewage, a severe rodent infestation or the outbreak of a food-borne illness.
Informational hearings will be held throughout the islands Dec. 2-6, so that the public may learn more about a proposal that also would require food establishments to be inspected every year, rather than every two years, and increase the fees paid by the food retailer from an average $46 to $200 for each permit.
The health department expects the fee increases will fund the salaries of 13 additional full-time inspectors, but having those staffers on hand from the get-go is crucial to the program’s success.
The updated rules, which follow the 2009 U.S. Food and Drug Administration Model Food Code, call for a minimum of three on-site inspections each year for high-risk establishments, two on-site inspections for medium-risk eateries, and annual visits for all other food establishments. The goal is to reduce to practically zero the major violations that pose a health threat — undercooked meat, lax hygiene by food handlers, and the like — and stop ticking off the old 100-point checklist that allowed eateries with as many as six major violations to stay open.
Early reaction from restaurant owners has been generally positive, albeit understandably wary. The new system would require them to pay higher fees and to prominently post their placards immediately after inspection, so they rightly seek assurances from the Health Department that inspectors will return promptly to revise grades as soon as violations are corrected. The proposed rules call for a follow-up inspection the next working day after an establishment notifies the department that all major violations have been corrected.
Holding the Health Department to that speedy standard is essential if the new grading system is to succeed in protecting customers from food-borne illnesses, while simultaneously allowing hardworking, well-meaning food retailers to continue to earn their living.
