King County, Washington—which seats the city of Seattle—is looking to establish a restaurant safety grading system. Toronto, which for 12 years has held the DineSafe stoplight colour-coded system to indicate a pass, conditional pass or restaurant closure, is being looked at as one example of how these indexes can work.
This is hardly a new development.
According to the CBC, DineSafe has become a model for restaurant grading programs around the world. In 2011, Toronto became the first city outside the US to be awarded the prestigious Samuel J. Crumbine Consumer Protection Award for excellence in food protection.
The Seattle Times reports: “The goal is to help prevent foodborne illness, which sickened nearly 400 people in Washington state last year, including
15 probable or confirmed illnesses in King County. Nationwide, some 48 million people get sick from food poisoning each year and 3,000 die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
Here's hoping the county lands on a solution that sticks. In Toronto, at least, the compliance rate is estimated at over 92 percent.
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Source: Seattle Times