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OC seems cool to changing restaurant health inspection signs
Orange County restaurants currently display health ratings, but don't use letter grades, like many other major municipalities nationwide. The Orange County Board of Supervisors is again considering recommendations from the county Grand Jury to alter restaurant health inspection signs.
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The Orange County Board of Supervisors is again considering recommendations from the county Grand Jury to alter restaurant health inspection signs.
The placards posted at restaurants currently read "Pass" "Reinspection Due-Pass" or "Closed."
The key recommendation by the Grand Jury calls for a color-coded system. There are other suggestions including changing the current wording of "Reinspection Due-Pass" to "Conditional Pass."
A preliminary response (Agenda Staff Report) to the recommendations was prepared by the county Environmental Health Division's Health Care Agency, which oversees the restaurant health inspections, and released on the county website Wednesday. The supervisors are scheduled to vote on the HCA's recommended responses at their April 29 meeting.
The proposed response disagrees or asks for "further analysis" on the Grand Jury recommendations.
A county spokeswoman said the supervisors can vote to adopt the HCA recommended responses or change the recommendations and send an amended response to the Grand Jury.
This is not the first time the Grand Jury has suggested changes to the county's restaurant health inspection process.
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In 2008, supervisors voted to have the county's Health Care Agency change the wording of the inspection seals. But the Grand Jury suggested many more changes that were not adopted by the supervisors, including color-coded signs or the use of letter grades, as Los Angeles and other counties use.
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