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Food Focus February 2008

Put food safety on the menu

At NZFSA’s conference last year, Ben Chapman spoke about the International Food Safety Network, which provides comprehensive and current food safety news through its news listservs. In this column Ben serves up a few notices to restaurants

Consumers who place their lives in the hands of someone else every time they dine out want to see food safety if not on the menu at least on the door.

A family in Hixson, Tennessee, whose father missed five weeks of work while his children were in and out of hospital with complications after reportedly contracting E.coli O157:H7 at a local restaurant, chooses not to eat at certain restaurants now.

They aren’t alone. They are joined by many patrons around the world who are interested in what goes on in a kitchen.

Public discussion around the accessibility and posting of restaurant inspection results has been one of the most hotly discussed topics of the past few years.

There are, of course, limitations, because an inspection report only reflects conditions at one point in time, good or bad. In the absence of regular media exposés, or a reality TV show where camera crews follow an inspector into a restaurant unannounced, how do diners actually know if their favourite restaurants are as concerned about food safety as they are?

Grades posted at door show results

In 1998, Los Angeles dealt with an exposé of its own. A local TV station showed yuck-factor items like cockroaches in kitchens and rodent infestations. The Mayor told the county health department to fix the situation. In a few months, the result was a more robust public health system: mandatory training for restaurant operators; an influx of inspectors; and an influential and replicated restaurant grading system using grades A, B and C posted at the door. Patrons loved it, and the county reported a drop in the incidences of foodborne illness.

In the years since Los Angeles introduced their system, over 150 jurisdictions worldwide have started proactively disclosing inspection results.

Must work day-in day-out

But like children’s report cards, grades are only part of the story. Public health systems, such as that in Los Angeles, work not just because of the grade posted, but because of their mandate to engage in a dialogue with restaurant operators and, more importantly, the public about food safety.

Some restaurant managers say that publicly available grades motivate them to avoid the stigma of a bad grade. Some managers even display the inspection information proactively.

The goal of restaurant inspection disclosure systems is to rapidly communicate to diners the potential risk in dining at a particular establishment. A clean bathroom supposedly means the cook has clean hands.

I just don’t believe it is that simple. What’s more important is the ongoing culture of food safety within any establishment. A grade reflects how restaurant staff behaved while an inspector was present; the challenge is to motivate employees and managers to practise good food safety day-in day-out, whether an inspector is present or not.

The disclosure of restaurant inspection results is superficially satisfying and should be explored. But does posting an inspection result affect the intentions and practices of food handlers? Do diners really make decisions based on knowledge of inspection results? Is it worth the public money to develop a Cadillac-style grading and disclosure system?

Providing information to a hungry public is a must. But more importantly, such public displays of information might just bolster overall awareness of safe food handling practices and strengthen the relationship between public health and the citizens they serve. The interested public – especially families, like the one in Tennessee, who have been affected by foodborne illness – can handle more, not less, food safety information on their menus.

Note: Ben Chapman is a PhD student at the University of Guelph, Canada, and is involved in the International Food Safety Network.

Each issue our columnist gets to air their personal views on a subject close to them. These views do not necessarily represent those of the New Zealand Food Safety Authority, but are published here to encourage debate on issues of current interest.