O.C. Planning to Post Grades for Restaurants

Orange County health officials are planning to change the way they rate the county’s nearly 7,000 restaurants, leaning toward a new scoring system similar to the letter grades used in Los Angeles and San Diego counties.

The county also is planning to post the scores on a Web site to make them more accessible to consumers, but does not plan to require restaurant owners to display them.

Presently, consumers can see inspection reports only by visiting the county custodian of records in Santa Ana.

The change is being prompted by consumer demand “to have something to measure sanitation even though any scoring system we develop is only going to be a snapshot in time,” said Bill Ford, the county’s assistant director of environmental health.

The details of the plan, including whether the grades will be letters or numbers, still are being worked out, Ford said. Officials hope to launch the new system within a year. Expected much sooner are Web site listings of restaurant closures.

Switching to a scoring system would be a dramatic departure from the existing system, which relies on reports that contain no overall grade or ranking.

The county’s 54 health inspectors cover 6,870 restaurants with four surprise visits a year, Ford said. They look for violations in areas such as rodent and insect infestation, food storage and temperature, worker hygiene, and making sure that there is hot running water and no sewage problems.

If an immediate health hazard exists, the eatery is shut down on the spot until the problems are corrected. If there are minor violations, such as improper food handling or storage, the owner is given a report and a date for re-inspection.

If the owner does not comply by the specified date, he or she is put on notice that the restaurant will be shut down within 15 days.

Seventy-two Orange County restaurants were shut down for one to three days between July 1 and Sept. 30, 1998, the latest figures available. In 1997, 159 restaurants were closed for some period of time.

The grading system used by Los Angeles County health officials is similar to the one used in public schools.

A top “A” rating requires a score of 90% to 100% from an inspection. A score of 80% to 89% results in a “B” rating. Eateries that score between 70% and 79% receive a “C” grade. Restaurants scoring below 70% do not merit a letter grade, just a numeric score. Restaurants that fall below 60% more than twice in one year are subject to being closed.

Ford said Orange County health officials do not want to require restaurant owners to post the grades in public because, “once you do that, you get operators trying to negotiate for the score,” he said. “In the past we have tried to downplay the scoring system . . . and have tried to accomplish our goals through communication. But the ABC grading system is an informative tool that communicates to the public.”

Restaurant industry officials said Thursday that a switch from the county’s current procedure of detailed comments with no overall rating would be acceptable if the grading standards are consistent.

“They need to have a plan that is good for the public and good for the industry,” said Gary Parkinson, president of the Orange County chapter of the California Restaurant Assn. and owner of the Summit House restaurant in Fullerton.

“We would welcome the change,” said Debbie Atkins, spokeswoman for Advantica Restaurant Group Inc. which owns about 80 Carrows, Coco’s, Denny’s and El Pollo Loco restaurants in Orange County. “For years, we have been working under the ABC letter-grading system in other areas of the country so this is nothing new to us.”

The county’s plans come on the heels of intense media scrutiny in Los Angeles County, where a health-department crackdown and new laws require restaurants there to post their letter grades in full view of customers. San Diego County has used a similar system for more than 50 years.

Orange County’s plan to post restaurant ratings and closures online are in anticipation of legislation introduced by state Sen. Byron Sher (D-Stanford), which would require counties to make restaurant-inspection results readily available to the public.

“I don’t think there is anything more important than public health and the sanitation in the restaurants that we visit,” Sher said Thursday.

A similar bill by Sher was passed by the legislature last year but vetoed by then-Gov. Pete Wilson. County officials said they expect the revised version to eventually become law.

Sher’s bill, which will be heard by the senate’s Health and Human Services Committee on Wednesday, also proposes standardized inspection criteria for the entire state. However, the bill does not dictate what kind of scoring system should be used.

“We will hopefully move in the direction of standard inspection forms to . . . make it easier for consumers to make comparisons,” Sher said.

Some local restaurant officials have reservations about scores being online, others embrace the idea.

“The online aspect I would welcome tremendously,” said Greg Hernandez, vice president of operations for the Ruby’s Restaurant Group in Newport Beach. “I would look at it as an opportunity to show all the guests how well we do.”