Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2017 15:09:31 -0400
From: Bert Bowe
Subject: Food safety scores are worth noticing
We are fortunate in North Carolina that each county’s health department does regular inspections of restaurants, grocery stores and other places providing food to consumers – posting scores (100 maximum) in a conspicuous place by the restaurant entrance or food sections of grocery stores. In my opinion, a case could be made that less than 95 means food preparation and quality could be sketchy and our risks of a health issue increased.
I suggest you all take a look at these posted ratings before ordering – my wife and I just walked in, then out of, two quite new Chatham mall restaurants (which I won’t name) that had 94 and 91.5 scores, and found one nearby with 98.5. Of course, establishments may never know who isn’t eating there because of that rating; typically, if we mention a low score to the manager they explain about cracked linoleum or a broken door knob, etc.However, the scores’ details are online, and virtually all demeritslink to food and drink safety (temperatures, contamination, mishandling of food, etc.) – low numbers can be pretty concerning.
I do realize managing all aspects of a restaurant is a difficult job, but I can’t think of a more important responsibility than safety, with tasty food and service being close seconds. Just one example on the plus side: Greek Kouzina’s last four scores have been 100s – definitely not easy to achieve.
Here is the Chatham County inspection site – just plug in any eating or food purchase place, and you’ll see how thorough the inspectors are. In 30 minutes you can also scroll down all restaurants and pick ones you are interested in:
https://public.cdpehs.com/
Other counties have similar sites.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 6 Americans get sick each year from contaminated food and beverages = 48,000,000 illnesses/year; about 128,000 of us are hospitalized; and 3,000 die. A friend of ours died months after complications from Salmonella poisoning, as one example.
CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/
Unfortunately, restaurant critics report on every possible detail except that food safety score(?).
Hope this is helpful…