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Does
your favorite restaurant make the grade?
Dec. 14, 2006
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
Next
time you eat out, don’t pick up more than what’s
on the menu.
Americans spend 40 percent of our food budgets eating away
from home – plenty of opportunity to catch a food-borne
illness. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
estimates you’ll land a food-borne illness once every
three to four years.
Improve your odds by paying attention to the sanitation grades
posted near restaurant entrances. You’ll see a letter
grade and percentage similar to the grades you got in school.
Ninety and above is an A, 80 to 89.5 is a B, and 70 to 79.5
is a C. Scores below 70 result in automatic closure.
Restaurants can earn an extra 2 points – added to the
grade in every inspection for three years – if the person
responsible for day-to-day operations takes an approved food
safety course.
That’s enough of a nudge for a restaurant that otherwise
would receive an inspection score of 89 – a B –
to eek out an A. The lower the grade, the more problems there
were.
Restaurants in North Carolina are inspected every three months.
More important than a one-time sanitation grade is the pattern
of grades over time, said Sue Grayson, head of the dairy and
food protection branch of the North Carolina Division of Environmental
Health.
It’s possible for a restaurant to have a bad day if,
for example, a number of employees are out sick with the flu,
Grayson said. In those cases, the sanitation grade may not
reflect the usual conditions at that particular establishment.
You can also go online and view a restaurant’s last
several inspections. Some counties even post details about
restaurants’ violations.
In the Raleigh area, go to www.wakegov.com/.
You’ll find detailed sanitation reports that include
inspectors’ comments, such as “Box of peppers
stored on floor, moved to top of cutting board/food prep surface.”
There you can even sign up for email alerts if you want to
know each time your favorite restaurant is inspected.
A number of other county health departments also maintain
web sites, and some television stations also post restaurant
sanitation grades.
Are any particular types of restaurants more likely to have
problems than others?
No, said Grayson, saying sanitation grades are an individual
thing.
“Some managers are very careful and make sure everything
is top drawer, and some don’t.”
The most common violation?
“Improper food temperatures are the No. 1 cause of food-borne
illness,” said Grayson. “So if you go online,
look for temperature violations.”
Other “critical violations” – ones that
can knock 5 points off a restaurant’s score:
* Food sources. Food has to come from approved sources. Shrimp
purchased by a restaurant from a street vendor off the back
of his truck is a no-no, for example.
* Food protection. Perishable foods have to be stored at proper
temperatures. And food can’t be served again. For example,
those chips you didn’t finish can’t be set out
for the next person.
* Personnel problems. Food service workers can’t have
infections or communicable diseases, and they have to use
proper hand-washing techniques.
* Equipment and utensils. Anything food touches has to be
cleaned and sanitized using approved methods and sanitizers.
Other inspection criteria address pests, waste disposal, toilet
facilities, and storage of toxic materials. View a copy of
the actual inspection form at http://www.deh.enr.state.nc.us/ehs/forms.htm
(click on form 4007).
What else can you look for when you eat out?
“I personally always feel better when I can see the
kitchen,” said Grayson. “And certainly if the
dining room is dirty, I wonder what the kitchen looks like.”
You should, too.
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