NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Saturday a plan for the city to adopt a public disclosure system for restaurant inspection results, reports the New York Times.  The plan, to be put in place over the next two years, will use a letter-grade system similar to that of L.A. County, in which establishments are required to display an A, B, or C in a visible location (such as a window – see right, Jessica Simpson), to compliment information on the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene website. 

Currently food establishments in NYC are inspected once a year, but the new plan would change this.

Under the plan, restaurants receiving an A grade would stay on a yearly inspection cycle. Those with B grades would get two inspections, and those with C grades would get three. Those with public-health hazards will be closed until violations are corrected.

According to Bloomberg,

This new system will encourage the less sanitary restaurants to clean up — and won’t punish the good guys. As sanitation improves, so will business. The more residents and tourists can trust the food they buy in New York City restaurants, the more likely they are to patronize them.

The goal of restaurant inspection is to promote a safe food environment, which in turn may reduce the incidence of foodborne illness in a community. Restaurant disclosure systems are a means of communicating this information to the public, and enhance consumer confidence in food prepared away from home. Though more research needs to focus on the best way to communicate these results to the public, through grades, scores, smiley-faces etc., it does get the public talking about food safety.