Here's How Boston's New Restaurant Grading System Would Work

BOSTON, MA — Restaurants and food trucks in Boston may soon be required to broadcast the results of their latest health inspection in the form of an A through F letter grade.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh on Wednesday debuted the proposal, which would take inspection results currently available in an online database, calculate them in the form of a grade and then mandate that they be displayed for all to see.

According to a statement from the mayor, "Boston's restaurants play a strong role in fueling our local economy, and it is our job to ensure these establishments are adhering to all required codes to protect Boston's residents and visitors. By creating a grading system, we are providing an extra layer of transparency and accountability for restaurants and consumers."

Here's how it works.

A restaurant will be assigned a certain number of points in accordance with the Federal Food Code's three categories of violations: foodborne critical, non-foodborne critical and non-critical. The ordinance will allow each category of violations to be assigned numerical points, which are deducted from a point score of 100 during the inspection to include the following:

• Foodborne critical violations = 10 points
• Non-foodborne critical violations = 7 points
• Non-critical violations = 2 points

Inspections will issue the establishment's letter grade to correspond to the score as follows:

• 94-100 = A
• 81-93=B
• Less than 81=C

Walsh filed an ordinance Wednesday to create the restaurant and food truck letter grading system. He also presented the city's first letter grade (an "A," seen above) to Stash's Pizza, in Dorchester.

Here's the fine print, per the city:

Boston's approximately 3,000 restaurants get inspected at least twice per year. Restaurants found to be at a higher risk for foodborne illness (high number of critical violations) are subject to additional inspections. Restaurants that do not earn an "A" during the initial inspection will automatically be re-inspected within 30 days. During the inspection the establishment will be given the opportunity to improve its letter grade by correcting the violations. If all violations have been corrected, the inspector will adjust the establishments score to reflect the most recent inspection and a new grade will be issued. If more than one re-inspection is requested, the owner/manager must pay an "off hour inspection" fee and the issued lettergrade will be evaluated. Failure to post the letter grade will result in a penalty of $300.00.

Image courtesy City of BOston Inspectional Services Dept.