Food safety is a mixture of carrots and sticks, but is the stick alone cleaning up Denver restaurants?

The Denver Post reports that food-safety violations at Denver restaurants have dropped sharply, and fines have soared under a controversial change in the way Denver regulates its dining establishments.

The number of critical violations that could lead to food poisoning has fallen 43 percent since the policy was implemented last year.

Restaurant owners are hopping mad over the fines they're paying, even as Denver regulators laud the policy's effectiveness.

"It looks like it's working," said Doug Linkhart, manager of the Denver Department of Environmental Health. "We are very excited about that trend."

Since the new system took effect Jan. 1, 2011, critical violations have dropped from a peak of 3,267 in the second quarter of 2011 to 1,847 in the second quarter of 2012. Expressed in a different measure, the number of critical violations per inspection has fallen from 1.7 to 1.

However, the restaurant industry says the switch is a financial burden on owners and is unfairly enforced.

Owners initially supported the shift to higher fines in place of the unpopular previous policy that required restaurants to post notices of critical violations. Now their tone has changed after seeing that fine collections soared from $118,995 in 2010 to $731,900 in 2011.

"We don't agree with the penalty system anymore," said Pete Meersman, president and chief executive of the Colorado Restaurant Association. "The fines are too high and too frequent, and there is rapidly growing animosity between restaurant operators and health inspectors."

Until last year, the health department used a system in which restaurants with a pattern of critical violations were required to post a notice of the violations for 30 days. Critical violations include leaving foods at temperatures that promote bacterial growth or poor hygienic practices by workers.

Restaurateurs hated the posting procedure because in most cases the violations were corrected before the notices were posted. The result was that patrons would be scared away by problems that no longer existed, industry officials said.

Restaurants called for a change. They negotiated for 18 months with Denver officials, eventually agreeing to the new system that allows the city to impose a fine of $250 if the same critical violation is found twice in a 12-month period. The fine rises to $500 for third or subsequent violations. Unchanged is the health department's ability to issue a $2,000 fine or close an establishment for an imminent public health risk.

I’m still learning to speak Australian, so I’m not sure what the registered clubs lobby is, although I’m guessing it’s not something out of The Flintstones. Maybe it’s like the volunteer firefighters in Bedrock (everything’s made of stone).

The Canberra Times reports the registered clubs lobby has softened its opposition to a mandatory food safety ''scores on doors'' scheme for food outlets and called for a voluntary trial of the scheme.

The ACT government and the Greens have both promised to introduce government scores on doors, or star ratings scheme after the October 20 territory election.

Under the scheme, restaurants would have to prominently display government-issued hygiene ratings.

ClubsACT chief executive Jeff House yesterday contacted the government and suggested that as a compromise a six month trial be conducted of the hygiene-rating system.

''It's much better as a matter of principle to trial something before you implement it, particularly when it hasn't been done here before,'' Mr House said.

Mr. House and others in Canberra, here’s some background.

Filion, K. and Powell, D.A. 2009. The use of restaurant inspection disclosure systems as a means of communicating food safety information. Journal of Foodservice 20: 287-297.


The World Health Organization estimates that up to 30% of individuals in developed countries become ill from food or water each year. Up to 70% of these illnesses are estimated to be linked to food prepared at foodservice establishments. Consumer confidence in the safety of food prepared in restaurants is fragile, varying significantly from year to year, with many consumers attributing foodborne illness to foodservice. One of the key drivers of restaurant choice is consumer perception of the hygiene of a restaurant. Restaurant hygiene information is something consumers desire, and when available, may use to make dining decisions.

Filion, K. and Powell, D.A. 2011. Designing a national restaurant inspection disclosure system for New Zealand
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Journal of Food Protection 74(11): 1869-1874
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iafp/jfp/2011/00000074/00000011/art00010



The World Health Organization estimates that up to 30% of individuals in developed countries become ill from contaminated food or water each year, and up to 70% of these illnesses are estimated to be linked to food service facilities. The aim of restaurant inspections is to reduce foodborne outbreaks and enhance consumer confidence in food service. Inspection disclosure systems have been developed as tools for consumers and incentives for food service operators. Disclosure systems are common in developed countries but are inconsistently used, possibly because previous research has not determined the best format for disclosing inspection results. This study was conducted to develop a consistent, compelling, and trusted inspection disclosure system for New Zealand. Existing international and national disclosure systems were evaluated. Two cards, a letter grade (A, B, C, or F) and a gauge (speedometer style), were designed to represent a restaurant's inspection result and were provided to 371 premises in six districts for 3 months. Operators (n = 269) and consumers (n = 991) were interviewed to determine which card design best communicated inspection results. Less than half of the consumers noticed cards before entering the premises; these data indicated that the letter attracted more initial attention (78%) than the gauge (45%). Fifty-eight percent (38) of the operators with the gauge preferred the letter; and 79% (47) of the operators with letter preferred the letter. Eighty-eight percent (133) of the consumers in gauge districts preferred the letter, and 72% (161) of those in letter districts preferring the letter. Based on these data, the letter method was recommended for a national disclosure system for New Zealand.

A colleague at the vet college shared a story with me about restaurant grades a couple of months ago. He and his son went into a local sushi place and it was dead - they had no problem getting a seat during the usually busy lunch rush. He asked the manager what was up and she said that business had been down since they had been given a low score during a routine inspection.

That made him pause a bit, they ordered lunch and ate, but hadn't been back. I guess some folks do make choices based on posted restaurant grades.

In New York, inspections and grade postings have been a hot topic for the past few months - and as Doug wrote a few weeks ago, the requisite whining from both sides is a bit tiring.

In attempt to take the clean doesn't mean safe statement to a more pragmatic level, NYC councilor Christine Quinn is (I think) trying to make the health department to refocus their fine structure away from clean infractions and focus on safety (but it's billed by the New York Daily News as "shrinking penalties for citations that don’t involve food").

In my ideal regulatory environment fines would be based on risk to public health - and so would disclosure grades.

“They are definitely working on the bill,” said Robert Bookman, counsel to the New York City Hospitality Alliance, an influential new restaurant group. “There’s a universal feeling among the City Council that something must be done to rein in the Health Department.”

The likely legislative changes include shrinking penalties for citations that don’t involve food — problems like broken tiles and dented food cans, sources said. The legislation is also expected to waive fines for eateries that score an A after appealing a lower grade.

If, as expected, the bill clears the Council, it would need a thumbs up from Mayor Bloomberg, who hasn’t shown much of an appetite for overhauling the controversial system.

City Hall expects to bank a record $48 million in restaurant fines this fiscal year — a 50% increase from the $32 million collected in 2009, budget records show.

While the fine rhetoric is captivating, the biggest penalty to a restaurant might be a poor risk-based inspection grade.

Royal Persis on East Flamingo was recently shut down with 61 demerits; anything over 40 is immediate closure.

KTNV reports the health inspector found "expired and adulterated" food and cautioned the restaurant to "only sell wholesome food to the public."

The mold at Royal Persis came in many colors. There was heavy black mold in and around the ice machine chute and white mold growing on dates. And we all know to beware of yellow snow... How about brown ice? The last place you'd want that moldy stuff is in your beverage cup.

And one of the last places you'd want to find uncovered fish is underneath leaky, dripping equipment, which is right where inspectors found it.

If you ate at Royal Persis on July 6, you likely got a taste of someone else's meal because inspectors found dried, built-up food debris on kitchenware stored as clean against dirty walls.

Inspectors also found a garbage can blocking the handsink, but even if the path was clear, it wouldn't have done much good because there was no soap or paper towels.

The Royal Persis won't be re-inspected, because shortly after the health inspection, the owner called the Health District and said she planned to close the restaurant down permanently.

The owner tells Action News inspectors came by Royal Persis while the restaurant was in the process of closing down and that's why things there weren't up to par.