MCHD discusses posted letter grades for restaurant inspections
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MORGANTOWN - Today, if you want to know how your favorite restaurants perform during inspections conducted by sanitarians with the Monongalia County Health Department, you can find out via a link on the health department's website.
County Health Officer Dr. Brian Huggins would like that information to be far more visible.
On Thursday, the Monongalia County Board of Health gave Huggins the green light to begin formulating an inspection policy that would result in a report including a letter grade that food service establishments would be required to post in a conspicuous location - the front door, for example.
"I've asked my sanitarians. We sat down one day and I said, 'How many restaurants that pass - technically pass by food code - would you not eat in because you still feel like it's just not one of the cleaner establishments?' There's a very long list, and some of them are very popular restaurants," Huggins said. "The reality with food code is there are only certain items that are so egregious that it requires an immediate shutdown."
In other words, just because a restaurant is compliant enough to remain open doesn't mean there aren’t issues, and in some cases, numerous or repeated issues.
"The only way that you fix that is you start to make it very public knowledge," he said, explaining similar programs are in place across the country.
For example, inspections of Pittsburgh restaurants conducted by the Allegheny County Health Department result in the issuance of a green, yellow or red placard that must be displayed at the entrance to every food service facility.
"I was in Boulder, Colorado, and they do a letter grading system. North Carolina, I reached out to them, and they do a letter grading system. I reached out to northern Nevada, and they do a color-coding system," Environmental Health Program Manager Jennifer Costolo-Michael said, showing an example of the postings required in those jurisdictions. "But all of them said, regardless of what route you go, that compliance has increased, and food safety issues have gone down. They had a little bit of pushback in the beginning, but everybody was pretty receptive and said, 'You know, if I have an A or B on my door, people are going to want to come eat here. That's going to increase business.' And the one who get the C, you know, we can provide that education."
Huggins also noted that MCHD personnel would be able to provide reinspection after a set period of time for establishments displeased with their grade.
"In places that have put this in place, the restaurants, as a whole, just have a higher cleanliness quality across the board," he said, adding, "This is something that, honestly, the only people who probably would be upset about this are going to be restaurants that don't want to implement cleaner standards."
Information on the MCHD website indicates one in six Americans - more than 48 million people - experience food poisoning every year. Of that number, some 128,000 end up in the hospital and 3,000 die.
"I've drawn a hard line. If people need to be closed, they need to be closed. End of story," Huggins said. "Unfortunately, it seems like lately we've been getting more people that are pushing that line. And it doesn't make me happy."
While BOH member Sam Chico said he supports measures to improve cleanliness and food handling practices, he cautioned that the department must take very seriously the potential impacts on businesses.
"We just better double dot our I's and double cross our T's because we need to protect public health first and foremost, but we better not screw up, make a mistake, and then ruin someone’s business and livelihood," he said.
In response, Huggins said the grades wouldn't be based on the opinions of individual inspectors, but a standardized process based on objective benchmarks and supported by photographs and other evidence.
"The one thing I can promise you is that we're going to do everything we can to have it be objective, not subjective, findings. I'm a big believer that's how code enforcement should be," Huggins said. "One thing I can say is under my watch as the health officer, and I know Jennifer [Costolo-Michael] agrees with this, is we are going to be objective in how we do things at this health department, period."
Huggins further noted that Thursday marked an initial conversation about a program that's likely a year or more from full implementation if ultimately adopted by the board of health.
Further, implementation would also require the support of the Monongalia County Commission. The 2021 passage of Senate Bill 12 gives county commissions veto power over regulations adopted by boards of health.