Restaurants Named and Shamed in Aus

[buckytom]

I thought NYC did something like that?

here it is, jeeks: Restaurant Inspection Information

 

[Barbara L]

I was under the impression that all places that serve food in the U.S. have to display the letter grade. I know they did in California, and they do in North and South Carolina (with a percentage score next to the letter).

One of our local TV stations has a feature on every Tuesday's news on which restaurants scored the best and worst on state inspections, and they also show the ones who showed a lot of improvement. They tell what the inspection score was and the violations. They also point out repeat violators.

Barbara

 

[expatgirl]

I've never noticed ratings in Houston but there is a website that you can go to there that will give you all the infor...........with all the competition they really can't afford to be bad........and now with the economy it's even more competitive

 

[valsdad]

Just my opinion, but I don't think media involvement beyond listing everyone's scores is particularly helpful. Even listing scores alone without some reference to what they signify and what the mean and median scores of all restaurants are under their jurisdiction will just cause confusion for most.

No restaurant will be without some issues if the Environmental Health Specialist is doing his job correctly. The media will often interpret reports based on their own limited knowledge.

If the Health Department initiates a routine report for the media on that week's or month's results, then it may be a good thing. But it needs to be regular and consistent.

Many violations are corrected during the discussion between the manager and the health department. For example, food stored on the floor usually means someone delivered a box of food and it hasn't been shelved yet. Should the floor become flooded, the food could be contaminated. Usually the manager will have the food shelved while the health department is still there. The violation usually will remain on the inspection sheet.

After 35 years in the restaurant business, I couldn't have said it better.

 

[AllenOK]

I've worked in restaurants in two states, MI and OK. Neither state required or expected a "letter" grade to be posted at the front entrances.

I worked at a steak house for a little while. My very first week there, we had a Health Department inspection. We had two hours warning before the inspector showed up. I was like, "what the???" I still had my Food Handler permit from Tulsa County, OK, when that happened. I was shocked that Jackson Co, MI, didn't require Food Handler permits of all food service workers.

That inspector arrived, and immediately went into a closed-door conference with the owners in the office. After about 20 minutes, the inspector came out, looked around for a few minutes, then realized that I was a new employee. He immediately started grilling me on temperatures, handwashing practices, etc. He couldn't stump me. He asked me why I was so "up" on all of this, then I showed him my Food Handler permit. The inspector left shortly afterwards.

Fast forward 4 months. In that time, the restaurant was sold to a new owner. The Health Inspector made an "unannounced" visit, and slammed the new owner. Almost to the point of shutting the place down.

Come to find out, the original owners would often "buy" a passing inspection from said inspector, which is why they had the "advance warning". When the new owner took over, the Health Inspector didn't get his regular bribe, and slammed them.

I ended up leaving that place shortly thereafter. It was going downhill, and I could see the writing on the walls.

 

[expatgirl]

that's a shame, Allen......sorry to hear.........

 

[expatgirl]

If you're in OK land you might as well come to Houston.......tons of great restaurants here.........we're not known as the fattest city in the US for no reason........ and it's cheap to live here compared to other cities..........yeah, the economy stinks right now but Houston is still cheap comparatively-wise