Photo by staceyviera.

In early 2009, D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh proposed that restaurants receive letter grades for food safety, grades which would be posted in their windows. Yesterday, Cheh brought the issue back to the table when she introduced the Restaurant Hygiene Transparency Act of 2011. Along with the posting of letter grades, the Act would also ensure that the information is easily accessible electronically. The Act would also apply to food trucks and carts, which are classified as “food establishments” under D.C. Municipal Regulations. If the Act passes, D.C. would join Los Angeles, St. Louis, the state of North Carolina, San Francisco and New York City in requiring restaurants to display such grades in their windows.

In 2008, the Center for Science in the Public Interest published a report scolding the city for a lack of public access to its health inspection information. Since then, the D.C. government has published health inspection records on their website, but it’s hard to imagine that many individuals would pull up the site to preview the safety of their dinner in advance. (Reading about sanitary violations: appetizing!) Even so, a cursory glance at the database indicates that many establishments are not inspected on a regular basis or the government has not posted the documentation.