Officials Oppose Restaurant Grades
ORANGE COUNTY — Top officials of an agency charged with overseeing health inspections at restaurants and food counters have suggested ways that food industry representatives might help scrap a controversial proposal for posting inspection grades.
Orange County’s environmental health office opposes the grading system used in Los Angeles, San Diego and Riverside counties in which inspectors give out A, B or C letter grades. Consumer groups say the grades provide valuable information for the public.
The director and assistant director of the county’s environmental health office, which has been preparing a report on the grading system for the Board of Supervisors, met in June to discuss the proposal with the Food Sanitation Advisory Council, a group of county food industry representatives that reviews health regulations.
“Any system which we see we’re going to adopt, we want something that you want,†said Bill Ford, the assistant director, according to a meeting transcript obtained by The Times.
Ford said he did not want an letter grading system “rammed down our throats,†but said the issue had become political.
Miller and Ford did not return calls regarding their meeting.
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