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NYC debates the ABCs of health inspections

NEW YORK New York City’s Board of Health will move the discussion over a proposal to rate restaurants’ sanitary conditions with letter grades to a public hearing before it votes on the measure.

The board voted Thursday to hold a public hearing on the new grading system on Feb. 5, and then it is expected to vote on the measure in March. Under the proposed system, restaurants would receive grades of A, B or C, and the results would then be posted for public viewing. Those establishments receiving Bs and Cs would be inspected more often than those who meet the highest standards for food safety and other sanitary conditions.

Letter-graded health inspections already are enforced in Los Angeles and San Diego, and have been proposed in Albuquerque, N.M., and Washington, D.C.

In New York City, the health department said that of the 24,000 restaurants inspected annually, about 30 percent of the city’s restaurants would qualify for A grades, 40 percent would receive Bs and 26 percent would get Cs. Restaurants receiving A grades can publicly post the grades at the end of the inspection, and establishments receiving a B or a C would be required to undergo a second inspection within 30 days. The grades for the second inspection would then have to be posted.

Contact Elissa Elan at [email protected].

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