Board of Health Rates Restaurants

The New York Health Department is looking to make some interesting changes that will influence New York restaurants — and your dining experience.   The Board of Health is expected to vote in March on a measure that would require restaurants to prominently display letter grades that they have received from their inspection. They would post their scores, including A, B, or C, depending on how the inspectors rated them.   Anything below a C would get the restaurant shut down.

As Elliott Marcus, the associate commissioner of the Health Department’s bureau of food safety and community sanitation explains it, “This will be a very simple and transparent way for restaurant diners to determine whether they want to eat at a particular restaurant.” Restaurants shouldn’t be too worried, as they will get a second inspection, should the first inspection give them a poor grad, and they can have a hearing before they have to post their final grades.

Los Angeles has had this type of rating system for years, and has found that the percentage of “A” rating has skyrocketed, as restaurants have worked to make their food and sanitation better.