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Better ways to name and shame dirty restaurants
Saturday 06 June 2009
Objections to the Rees government's food outlet name-and-shame website could have been avoided if Food Minister Ian Macdonald had adopted a more sophisticated and accountable approach to exposing restaurants that fail hygiene standards, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.
Commenting on a story in today's Sun Herald ('Blacklisted eateries cry foul'), Dr Kaye said: "Minister Macdonald opted for the least transparent, most problematic approach to informing the public about eateries that put their health at risk.
"The Minister rejected international best practice that includes publishing the full inspection notice and ranking the outlets.
"Instead he opted for a simplistic and at times misleading website that lumps all infringements together.
"More than one in four Australians contract food poisoning each year from a food outlet.
"In NSW the one million plus cases of out-of-home food poisoning can only be addressed by learning from the best of the overseas experience.
"In Los Angeles restaurants are ranked from A, the highest standard, to C, considered a failing grade.
"Posting the ranking in a visible location not only leads to improved hygiene performance but it also boosted profits for the best performing outlets.
"Publication of the food safety notice, such as in Toronto's DineSafe program, allows potential customers to make up their own minds about the significance of minor infringements.
"Both of these approaches offer much more sophisticated and readily-available information than Minister Macdonald's name-and-shame website," Dr Kaye said.
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