County Considers Restaurant Grading System

—By Bay City News Service

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors this week directed staff to prepare a system of colored signs posted at restaurants where county health inspections have found one or more serious code violations, a spokeswoman said.

The proposed policy would have county Department of Environmental Health inspectors place colored placards for the public to see at restaurants indicating major county health code violations, according to county spokeswoman Gwen Mitchell.

The board also asked the health department to prepare a way to assign a more-precise numerical score rating for each restaurant inspected that would be posted on the department's website, Mitchell said.

The department will submit proposed colored sign and online numerical score grading systems at a future date for the board's consideration, Mitchell said.

Major code violations include practices that pose an "imminent health hazard," such as employees not washing their hands, employees working while ill, inadequate food storage or cooking temperatures and sewage, animal or insect contamination, Mitchell said.

The placard system would grade eateries within the county, assigning them signs with one of three colors based on major code violations detected during inspections and then posting the signs at the businesses, Mitchell said.

A green placard would mean the business had one major violation that was corrected or mitigated during the inspection and a yellow would indicate two or more violations and that a second inspection would take place within three days, Mitchell said.

A red sign would tell the public that the health department had ordered the business closed as a danger to public health and safety, Mitchell said.

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