NYC implements letter grades for food safety at restaurants

NY City restaurants soon will share some common ground — a letter-based A, B or C — grading system aimed at informing diners about cleanliness and food safety.

And it has some restaurateurs worried that restaurants that earn a B or a C will go out of business as diners flock to the competitor with an A in the window.

“Some will undoubtedly close if they get a B or a C,” said Robert Bookman, a lawyer for the New York State Restaurant Association, which vehemently opposes the letter grades.

Others say they accept the new system and will strive for an A.

“It is our goal always to get an A,” said David Chang, whose hotter-than-hot restaurants include Momofuku Noodle Bar and Momofuku Ko. “If we don’t get an A, we fail.”

Chang said he has sent his sous chefs to city Health Department workshops to get up to speed on the new system.

Health officials say they are changing the way they rate restaurants because every year 11,000 people go to hospitals in New York City for food-borne illness related to eating out, and that number is rising.

Read the full article at The AP