Posting scores — 04/24/08

Fri, May 16 2008

— Beginning May 14, restaurants in Lexington will be required to post their health department scores in bold letters near the entrance. We like the change.
The posted scores not only encourage restaurants to work a little harder to avoid receiving an embarrassingly low score, but they also give patrons quick information about the quality of the place where they are eating.
Under the new rules established by the health department in Lexington, scores below 84 will be posted in red. Scores that low are often indicative of critical violations like rodent or roach problems. In Louisville, restaurants must display a letter grade based on their score on the latest health department inspection.
The results of restaurant inspections are among the best read items in this newspaper, but only those who read them benefit from them. Posting the grade in plain view of the restaurant’s customers would greatly increase their impact.
In our book, requiring restaurants to display the scores received in their latest inspection is not a way to increase the punishment restaurants receive for low scores. Instead, it is an added incentive to avoid receiving a low score in the first place.