Red, yellow, green: Go
PUBLIC HEALTH: The colour-coded plan, four years in the making, will make its debut in October

By Patrick Maloney The London Free Press
June 15, 2010

Restaurant-bound? Rest easier.

Politicians gave final approval Monday night to a colour-coded restaurant sign system that’s been four years in the making.

Posted at eateries, the signs will inform Londoners how businesses fared in inspections.

“I spoke to several restaurant owners in the city and they’re thrilled,” Coun. Bernie MacDonald said. “It (a green sign) shows the public how good their restaurant is, but it also gives control over their workers’ (behaviour).”

Inspectors with the Middlesex-London Health Unit will be charged with posting the signs expected to ratchet up safety in city eateries and keep consumers informed.

Londoners can expect to see the signs popping up starting this October.

The signs, a draft version of which has been drawn up by the health unit, will come in three colours — red, yellow and green.

A red sign will indicate the restaurant has been closed because of “an immediate health hazard to the general public” uncovered by an inspection. The sign would be removed only upon re-inspection.

A yellow sign will be dubbed a “conditional pass” that indicates inspectors found “significant non-compliance” in several areas, such as food hygiene, garbage handling and pest control.

A green sign will indicate the restaurant passed inspection.

The system is similar to one put in place in Toronto in 2001.

City council’s approval comes almost four years after local health officials first proposed giving diners more information about restaurant inspections.

Though the industry isn’t dismayed by London’s system, one aspect of it is concerning, said the president of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association. Garth Whyte, whose group has 31,000 members including hundreds in London, said the sign system is “not a bad thing” but could become confusing, and dangerous for businesses.

The biggest sticking point, he says, is the yellow, or conditional, sign. For some diners, that’s as alarming as a red sign — and Whyte worries the exact infractions won’t be clear.

“We would prefer to see it as black and white — either you’re safe or you’re not,” he said. “What does yellow mean? The food could be safe, but you could have a bathroom infraction.”

Coun. Paul Van Meerbergen also raised that issue, noting “there’s a big difference between finding dust bunnies and finding mouse droppings on pizzas.”

But a draft version of the local yellow sign includes seven specific areas an inspector could tick off to inform diners of infractions.

They are: food protected from contamination; food handler hygiene and practices; temperature and food storage; garbage/waste handling; pest control; equipment and utensil sanitation/storage; premises maintenance/sanitation.

It’s believed a restaurant receiving a yellow sign would receive a re-inspection within a few days.

Inspectors will give some slack to restaurants that earn a yellow sign upon first inspection. Health officials have said they’ll give 48 hours to fix first-time problems and instead receive a green sign.

Coun. Stephen Orser raised another issue, questioning how health officials could stop restaurant owners from taking down and hiding a yellow sign.

They can be fined, Jim Reffle of the health unit said.