Chew On This: Dirty dining in our restaurants
Washington's Center for Science in the Public Interest has come up with an intriguing proposal: public access to a restaurant's health-code grades. The recommendation comes in a report titled "Dirty Dining: Have Reservations? You Will Now", just published.
"If you can walk by a restaurant and see which credit cards it takes and whether Zagat recommends them, then you should also be able to see how the local health authority rates them," says Sarah Klein, a staff attorney with CSPI.
CSPI's researchers analyzed reports from 30 restaurants in each of 20 cities across the nation -- a total of 539. And came up with a horrifying list of 'yuck' discoveries. It was less of the usual dread such as maggots on the meat that fill apprehensive diners' fantasies. It was more of the cockroaches ambling across chopping boards, mold in ice machines variety. 22 percent of the restaurants had inadequate safe food holding temperatures, 16 percent revealed poor handwashing by employees, 13 percent had rodent or insect activity.
Over 40 percent of the outbreaks of foodborne illness are linked to restaurant foods, while only 22 percent are linked to food prepared in private homes. In Washington, you can only access restaurant inspection reports if you lodge a written request under the Freedom of Information Act. But Washington didn't lead the list of violations. Boston did, with its restaurants having 63 of the violations between them.
"If you can walk by a restaurant and see which credit cards it takes and whether Zagat recommends them, then you should also be able to see how the local health authority rates them," says Sarah Klein, a staff attorney with CSPI.
CSPI's researchers analyzed reports from 30 restaurants in each of 20 cities across the nation -- a total of 539. And came up with a horrifying list of 'yuck' discoveries. It was less of the usual dread such as maggots on the meat that fill apprehensive diners' fantasies. It was more of the cockroaches ambling across chopping boards, mold in ice machines variety. 22 percent of the restaurants had inadequate safe food holding temperatures, 16 percent revealed poor handwashing by employees, 13 percent had rodent or insect activity.
Over 40 percent of the outbreaks of foodborne illness are linked to restaurant foods, while only 22 percent are linked to food prepared in private homes. In Washington, you can only access restaurant inspection reports if you lodge a written request under the Freedom of Information Act. But Washington didn't lead the list of violations. Boston did, with its restaurants having 63 of the violations between them.
Posted on Wednesday 13th August 2008 in
Blog
Add Comment