The Empowered Consumer: Wake Up and Smell the E. Coli

It’s easy to blame industry and regulators for their lack of attention to food safety that’s literally making us sick – especially considering the recent disgusting discoveries during inspections at the production facilities of the Peanut Corporation of America. The fight to fix our food system through legislation, litigation, and higher industry standards will doubtless be long and arduous. But there is another important option at our disposal…it’s called “market forces.” With our capitalist system, we can vote with dollars to encourage more responsible behavior. This can work in tandem with regulations and litigation to tackle the systemic problem we currently face with food borne illness.

Three news stories advocating informed consumer choice have recently caught my attention:

Scores on the Doors is a national service in the UK that assigns publicly accessible star-based ratings to restaurants and other food businesses, based on official local authority hygiene ratings. Nearly 100,000 premises are listed, each receiving up to five stars depending on their level of cleanliness based on authority inspections.

A similar effort by the Salt Lake Valley Health Department in Salt Lake County, Utah, gives star-based hygiene ratings on their website. Also available are details of food facility violations, how serious they are, and what’s being done about them.

In July 2010, patrons of New York City restaurants will see posted grade-based inspection placards: blue A, green B, or yellow C. Those facilities given low ratings will face more frequent health department inspections.

Kudos to these and other agencies for putting power into the hands of consumers and the marketplace. Seeing these ratings every time we visit a restaurant – especially those posted in plain sight on the premises – reminds us that the potential for food poisoning is everywhere, not just in recalled food products. This isn’t a call for paranoia, but for justified vigilance and informed choices that support food safety and discourage unsanitary practices.

Consumer choice to support food facilities that are top-rated for hygiene sends businesses the motivating message that cleanliness and safety are profitable. The number of A-grade restaurants in Los Angeles County (which has implemented a grading system for years) has risen from 40 to 83% since 1998; food borne illness rates have dropped, and associated hospitalizations have dropped by 20%. That’s progress, plain and simple.