Grades Now Unlikely for Restaurants

Under pressure from the food industry, Orange County supervisors are poised to reject a proposal that would require the county’s 10,000 eateries to post consumer-friendly letter grades reflecting the results of health and sanitation inspections.

The board is now leaning toward using other methods to give restaurant patrons information about government inspections of restaurants, diners and other food establishments--without the A-B-C stickers so common in other Southern California counties.

Supervisors are expected to take up the issue at today’s board meeting, where letter grades are among five options.

The grades, popular with customers, are criticized both by the food industry and by two county health officials, who have given the food trade groups encouragement in lobbying supervisors to reject the proposal.

Industry leaders sent letters this month to the board arguing that the grading system, such as that used in Los Angeles, San Diego and Riverside counties, gives a false sense of security to customers and doesn’t represent a restaurant’s ongoing state of cleanliness.

Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who said in May that grades were “one of the most effective consumer protection tools available,” said Monday that issuing A, B or C grades aren’t enough to protect the public adequately.

But customers don’t agree. Restaurant patrons contacted Monday said they prefer seeing letter grades because they provide an instant evaluation of a restaurant’s sanitary conditions.

“It’s important to me to know which places that I eat in are clean, and [grades] would help me,” sales worker Kelly Wilson said as she ate lunch at the food court at MainPlace/Santa Ana mall.

Accountability is the real reason that the public is sold on letter grades, said John Golinger, consumer programs director for the California Public Interest Research Group, a statewide consumer-protection organization based in Los Angeles.

“The restaurants want that ‘A,’ and without consumers having to do anything, that letter makes a difference to their health and safety,” Golinger said. “Some in the restaurant industry don’t like it, but that’s what people want, and it’s a safer thing to do.”

Letter grades have been posted at restaurants in San Diego County since 1947, and they were introduced in Riverside and Los Angeles counties in recent years. The system in Los Angeles County was adopted last year after a local television station aired an undercover report on cockroach-infested restaurants.

In May, Spitzer raised the issue of improving Orange County’s restaurant inspection program and wanted to use letter grades. He said then that he felt “more comfortable” seeing the posted grades whenever he ate at a Los Angeles County restaurant.

Spitzer said he changed his mind after researching the criteria for letter grades, not because he was pressured by restaurant owners.

“Like many other folks who eat out, I was definitely a misinformed consumer,” he said. “There are many factors that go into a restaurant inspection, and I want the public to have all of that information available to them.

“Letter grades are the worst thing you can do because it limits the amount of information available to the public,” he said.

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Barely three weeks ago, transcripts of a meeting obtained by The Times showed that two top county health officials overseeing inspections had provided the food industry with ways to fight the letter grading proposal.

The transcripts, in which one official said he didn’t want a grading system “rammed down our throats,” reflected a coziness between inspectors and restaurateurs that worried government watchers.

Spokesmen for two other supervisors, Chairman Charles V. Smith and Jim Silva, said Monday the two officials are inclined to join Spitzer in supporting a proposal that requires restaurants to display stickers indicating simply that they passed inspections. Stickers also would include the date of inspection and a telephone number to report violations. The industry supports that measure.

The other two supervisors, Cynthia Coad and Tom Wilson, could not be reached for comment.

A companion proposal would award certificates to restaurants and food counters that “consistently maintain high [inspection] ratings,” according to options developed by the county Health Care Agency.

In addition, restaurants would be required under another option to make the latest inspection report available to patrons who ask for it.

But patrons say window stickers would be useless because food businesses typically cannot operate unless they pass the inspections.

Edward Wong, 43, a financial analyst who lives in Arcadia, said he prefers the grading system used in Los Angeles County. He said he has grown accustomed to seeing the letter grades posted at his favorite restaurants and cafes in both Los Angeles and San Diego counties.

Making inspection reports available to patrons who ask for them would be impractical for most diners, he said.

“You have to ask to see it? Who’s going to do that?” Wong said.

Most managers and business owners opposed the letter grade system and said they preferred posting a “pass” sticker or emblem.

Bill Blank, the manager for Topaz Cafe at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana, said he has visited A-graded restaurants in San Diego. But when he peeked around the corner into kitchen areas, he said, he saw obvious violations such as dirty floors.

“I prefer the idea of having a sticker saying, ‘We’re clean,’ ” Blank said.

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Whatever plan is adopted by supervisors will be significantly more than the county currently is doing to inform the public about inspections. There is no information available at restaurants, and the only way to look at past reports is to request the information from the Health Care Agency.

The agency already is swamped with work, and issuing letter grades would add to its load. Currently, 54 inspectors have not been able to keep up with a goal of conducting four unannounced inspections a year at each facility, according to an agency report.

County health inspectors examined 10,344 facilities in the fiscal year that ended June 30 and closed 192 of them for major violations. In addition, 375 received notices to correct violations.

Some patrons said Monday that they base decisions on where to eat on experience, not postings.

“To be honest with you, I choose very carefully the places where I eat,” said Edward Ward, a customer at a Santa Ana cafe. “Rarely do I just stop and eat at a place I don’t know too much about. In fact, if my favorite restaurants got low grades, I think I would still go and eat there.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Inspecting County Restaurants

Orange County supervisors are expected to decide today how to improve public access to inspections of about 10,000 food establishments. Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego counties require that letter grades be posted in restaurants. Below are the current method and five proposals.

CURRENT

Inspection reports available at Health Care Agency in Santa Ana. Restaurants are not required to post public notice of inspections or results, or post telephone numbers for patrons to call to report violations.

PROPOSED

* Letter grades: Would require posting of letter grades at food establishments based on a scoring system to be devised by the Health Care Agency. Grading is opposed by the agency and two food-industry groups.

* Award of recognition: Provide certificates for those establishments that “consistently maintain high standards.” Awards would be based on a scoring system to be devised by the Health Care Agency.

* Certification stickers: Provide establishments with stickers indicating that they have passed state health and sanitation standards. Number of a 24-hour violation report hotline would be posted.

* Inspection report review: Provide restaurants with copies of their latest inspection reports to make available to patrons on request. Restaurants would post notices that the reports are available and would provide patrons with the new hotline number.

* Internet postings: Inspection results would be placed on the Internet, conforming with a state Senate bill passed by the Legislature and awaiting Gov. Gray Davis’ signature.

Source: Orange County Health Care Agency