ONTARIO: Tell people about that fly in the soup

16.oct.09
Peterborough Examiner

If the local public health unit were an eatery its approach to letting
people know the results of restaurant inspections would get a one-star
rating - at best.
But that sorry situation is about to change. At the very least, the
Peterborough County-City Health Unit plans to do what the province says
it has to: develop a system that lets people routinely see restaurant
inspection reports.
As the health unit board heard at its Wednesday meeting, Peterborough
residents aren't getting that minimum level of service. To learn how a
restaurant fared, they have to go through the hassle of filing a Freedom
of Information request and pay a $5 fee.
That system represents the dark ages of public disclosure, which is why
Ontario's Public Health Standards say it is no longer good enough.
To its credit, the health unit is looking at going even further. It
plans to discuss with restaurant owners and the public a system of
rating signs that would be posted in every eatery window. The most
common example uses colour codes: green means a pass on the latest
inspection; yellow means problems were found and are being corrected;
red means there was a major violation and the doors have been closed.
Toronto has been using that system since 2001 and other centres are
joining in. Durham Region adopted it earlier this year. While details
need to be worked out and consultation is a good idea, Peterborough
should do the same.
Inspectors are paid by the public and their reports are public
information; if a restaurant isn't following safe food practices,
prospective customers should have that information before they decide
whether to step through the door.
As for the mandatory release of inspection reports, a health unit staff
report states they will be available on-line once a software program
being developed by two other health units is ready. In the meantime,
that Orwellian requirement for a Freedom of Information request should
be dropped.
But a single, province-wide registry would be more efficient. Several
provinces already have them. Albertans can log onto one site and see the
past five reports on any restaurant in the province.
If Ontario would follow suit, each individual health unit wouldn't have
to scramble to develop its own system - or wait until Grey-Bruce gets
its registry working and then piggyback along, which is what the PCCHU
plans to do.
If the province doesn't step up, a local website is the next best option
for making inspection reports public. A mandatory rating system actually
posted at each restaurant would be even better.