Restaurant scores help patrons avoid dirty diners
Illinois is changing how it expects local health inspectors to grade restaurants, but the move is taking away the one bit of information the public can readily access and understand.
The new rules are flowing from federal recommendations to the Illinois Department of Public Health and down to local health departments and their inspectors. The point appears to be better education of food establishment owners and employees, putting emphasis on preventing the things that can make people sick.
But the new forms no longer use the old zero to 100 scoring system. That restaurant score gave consumers a snapshot of cleanliness in the places they might choose to patronize, or a reason to seek a buffet that scored higher than a 56.
Food illness can happen even in a place with a score in the high 90s, the Illinois Department of Public Health spokeswoman said. Lukewarm foods can breed pathogens, so even one broken steam table or potato salad left out too long can sicken diners.
But the scores were a quick insight. Now consumers will need to read an entire report to see whether they might be at risk.
“It appears to be that it is going to be more difficult for the general public to actually determine ... what’s going on in a restaurant," said John Wagner, administrator of the Monroe County Health Department. "Some counties are ... looking around to see what they can do.”
That's a noble idea, but not very practical as diners move from one county to the next trying to figure out what that local health inspector is trying to tell you about that cafe.
The old scoring system may have been flawed, but it was better than nothing. The Illinois Department of Public Health should be coming up with a consumer-friendly way to communicate cleanliness of food establishments, not leaving local health departments to come up with their own solutions to the consumer communication issue.
This story was originally published June 4, 2018 at 1:31 PM with the headline "Restaurant scores help patrons avoid dirty diners."