Board of Health discusses Restaurant Safety Grading System

By Adam Swift

The town will soon start implementing a letter grade system for food safety compliance at local restaurants.

The new letter grade system was approved about a year ago, but had not been put in place yet, although the inspectional services department has been completing its regular restaurant inspections for food safety over the last year as it has done in the past, according to inspectional services director Al Legee.

Legee and health inspector and clerk Sharon Sicurella met with the Board of Health at its regular meeting last week to discuss the grading system, as well as provide an update on inspectional services department activities.

Legee, Sicurella, and board members agreed that there should be an education campaign conducted through local media, social media, and the town manager’s blog to alert restaurant owners and the public about the grading system.

Sicurella said one of her concerns was that people would think the letter was a judgement on the food and other issues at the restaurant, and not just food handling and safety compliance.

It was also noted that in a small town, a restaurant with a less than stellar grade on its window could face serious business repercussions.

However, board member Christine Reilly noted that under the system, restaurants have several opportunities to fix any food safety issues, and should be able to maintain an A grade.

“It’s written in the regulations that there are specific things, you are not going to give someone a C because there is dust on the refrigerator,” she said. “Under the way it is written and you go in to do an inspection and you say to them – we find you to be at a C, they are allowed to have you come back (within 48 hours). You can give them a chance to fix the problem before they have to post anything on their window.”

Reilly said that if the issue is still not fully corrected after the second inspection, the restaurant can have a third inspection at its own cost.

“So that means they have three chances to do it right before a C or a B would go up on their window,” she said. “You tell them, if you are going to do an inspection, you tell them what you found wrong, so they know. They have an opportunity twice to fix the problem, if they don’t fix the problem, I think the public has the right to know that that restaurant isn’t abiding by the regulations that they should be.”

Board member Jeanne Maggio asked what the current procedure is if there is an inspection and a restaurant owner does not take care of issues that were written up by the town.

Legee said that in the past if a restaurant had an inspection issue, he asked the restaurant to close for a day or two to address the issue, but did not post that it was closed for health violation.

“If I found it was in bad shape again, then the gloves would be off, then they would not be opening up and there would be a conversation in front of you with the restaurant owner,” said Legee.

Legee and the board of health agreed to hold a follow-up discussion on the implementation in three months.