Impact of Restaurant Hygiene Grade Cards on Foodborne-Disease Hospitalizations in Los Angeles County
Impact of Restaurant Hygiene Grade Cards on Foodborne-Disease Hospitalizations in Los Angeles County
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Date
2005-03
Authors
Simon, Paul A.
Leslie, Phillip
Run, Grace
Jin, Ginger Zhe
Reporter, Roshan
Aguirre, Arturo
Fielding, Jonathan E.
Advisor
Citation
Impact of Restaurant Hygiene Grade Cards on Foodborne Disease Hospitalizations in Los Angeles County, (with Phillip Leslie, Paul Simon, Grace Run, Roshan Reporter, Arturo Aguirre and Jonathan E. Fielding) Journal of Environmental Health, March 2005, Vol. 67, 32-36.
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Abstract
Although health departments routinely inspect restaurants to
assess compliance with established hygienic standards, few
data are available on the effectiveness of these efforts in preventing foodborne disease.
The study reported here assessed the impact on foodborne-disease hospitalizations in
Los Angeles County of a restaurant hygiene grading system that utilized publicly posted
grade cards. The grading system was introduced in January 1998. Hospital discharge data
on foodborne-disease hospitalizations were analyzed for Los Angeles County and, as a
control, for the rest of California during the period 1993–2000. Ordinary least-squares
regression analysis was done to measure the effect of the grading program on these hospitalizations.
After baseline temporal and geographic trends were adjusted for, the restaurant
hygiene grading program was associated with a 13.1 percent decrease (p < .01) in the
number of foodborne-disease hospitalizations in Los Angeles County in the year following
implementation of the program (1998). This decrease was sustained over the next two
years (1999–2000). The results suggest that restaurant hygiene grading with public posting
of results is an effective intervention for reducing the burden of foodborne disease.