The Flathead County Board of Health unanimously has approved a new program providing sanitation grades from A+ to F for restaurants and all retail food purveyors to post for the public to see.

County Health Officer Joe Russell said Friday the board adopted the grade program to provide consumers a gauge of their level of risk from eating food provided by an establishment. Inspectors assign grades after routine unannounced inspections.

Russell said the goal is to reduce illness, not to punish food establishments.

“We have great new studies that show a direct correlation between poor inspection outcomes and the prevalence of food-borne disease,” Russell said.

Inspectors assign grades based on violations classed as critical or non-critical for potentially causing illness. Critical violations include practices contributing to food contamination or temperature infractions. Noncritical violations relate to issues such as equipment problems, cleaning or storage practices.

Letter grades don’t reflect the same scale as in schools where a “C” connotes average. The policy adopted defined the grades as:

n Grade A: Very good to acceptable levels of sanitation.

n Grade B: Acceptable to marginal levels of sanitation.

n Grade C: Poor to marginal levels of sanitation.

n Grade D or lower: These facilities pose considerable risk to the public and immediate steps must be taken or closure procedures will be implemented.

Russell expects to have the placards back from the printer within a week or so. Food facilities — from restaurants to grocery stores to convenience stores and coffee kiosks — will receive grade to post somewhere on their premises following their regular inspections.

“We’re not going to dictate where as long as the customer can see it,” Russell said.

He said there is nothing in the law that says the inspectors can post the scores. If posting by owners becomes a problem, Russell said the department would deal with that issue.

“The board of health has a legal responsibility to carry out its mission concerning food safety,” he said.

As the program gets started, Russell encourages customers to ask where the grade is posted. He said they can decide if the business has not displayed the placard because it received a low score.

Since businesses receive grades at the time of their inspection, there may be a lag time before every facility has a placard to display. Russell said that the public may go to www.flatheadhealth.org to look up a particular restaurant or other food purveyor.

“You can go to the database and look for the most recent inspection,” he said.

Once the placards become available, Russell said that food purveyors may go to Environmental Health and request one reflecting their most recent inspection.

According to Russell, the new program reflects a trend across the United States.

“I’ve been to several states in the Southeast,” he said. “Almost every state requires posting of scores — most right where the customer orders.”

Grades provide an economic incentive for businesses to comply with good sanitation and food safety regulations. Russell considers this program the next incremental step following the success of providing inspection scores to the Inter Lake for publication.

Consumers applauded that move.

“We got a lot of positive feedback,” Russell said. “Now we want to take it a step forward.”

The health officer said publicizing low scores provided a powerful motivation for a handful of consistently low-scoring businesses to take their inspection results more seriously. He said most businesses want to comply.

“I think in general folks processing food understand how important their job is to protect the public health,” he  said.

Russell said that New York City recently started a grading program and had “some push back.” He said the biggest issue with food services was how quickly they could resolve the violations to have their score improved.

“I know that it’s absolutely a positive outcome when they come in and ask, ‘What do I do to never get a C again?’” Russell said.

He added that any food purveyor can have a bad day that happens during an unannounced inspection. The new policy states that a facility receiving a low grade may have another routine inspection “in an expedited fashion depending on staff availability.”

“We don’t want to punish someone who has always done an outstanding job,” Russell said. “We have to assess them on a case-by-case basis.”

Retail food businesses have at least one annual inspection. Those serving more than one meal, with complex menus and food preparation, receive two or more, depending on their inspection history.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.