 Food safety
“grade” window signs are coming!
We are developing a restaurant grading system that works for you. The Food
Program at Environmental Health Services and restaurants in King County have a
common goal: that restaurants are serving safe food. Restaurant grading is a step toward that goal
because it promotes good food safety and it helps people make informed
decisions about eating out.
Since 2014, King County restaurant owners, diners and food safety experts
engaged in discussions about what they wanted out of a restaurant grading system,
and the best way to develop it. From these conversations, we learned that
people want the grading system to communicate the following:
-
Trend of food safety practices over
time. Because good food safety needs to be practiced every day,
restaurant window signs will reflect how well a restaurant has performed over
time, not just a single inspection.
-
Scale of performance. Because
customers want to know more than if a restaurant passes or fails, restaurant
window signs will show they degree to which they pass or fail and how often
that happens.
Over the past two years, we have worked with partners on an incredible
amount of work to develop a restaurant grading system that meets these
expectations.
Here is a
summary of work we have done so far:
- Figured out how many inspections and what kind of
information is needed to best predict how well a restaurant will perform on
food safety on any given day. We concluded that including data from 4
inspections and only including red critical violations is the best predictor.
- Listened
to restaurant operators about concerns they have about inspection consistency.
We took this seriously – we led extra training and started doing peer review
inspections, where staff do side-by-side inspections to learn from each other.
- Worked on 6 restaurant window sign designs to see what people like best.
More information on restaurant window signs can be found in the section, “What
Can You Expect From Restaurant Window Signs”.
Currently, we are working on:
- Improving our website to make information more easily understandable and
accessible to the public.
- Organizing community meetings throughout King County to gather feedback
on our prototype restaurant window signs. We want all customers to be able to
understand the signs, regardless of their language or reading ability.
What you can
expect from window signs
Restaurant window signs are an important component of our restaurant grading
system. If you have traveled to places like California, Hawaii, or New York,
chances are you came across restaurant window signs. In these states,
restaurant window signs usually show a letter grade (such as “A” or “B”) to
tell the public about the restaurant’s food safety practices. We have learned
from what works well in these places and can create a system that meets the
needs of our community here.
- What
will restaurant window signs in King County actually do? The window signs will
be: Provide information that will help consumers know how well a restaurant practices
food safety on any given day.
- Easy
for people to see and understand
- Fair
and equitable to businesses
We want to
hear from you
In September and October, we will hold community meetings with restaurant
owners and the public to learn how best to design and implement restaurant
window signs. For information contact: Dr. Damarys Espinoza at damarys.espinoza@kingcounty.gov
(206) 263-8583.
You can also share your feedback on restaurant window signs through an
online survey.
Upcoming Stakeholder Meeting:
October 17, 2016
9:30-11:30 am
Tukwila Community Center, Meeting
Room A
12424 42nd Avenue South
Tukwila, WA 98168
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