Food Safety “Traffic Light” Placard System Approved For Restaurants In Calif. County

A new program to inform restaurant patrons in San Mateo County (Calif.) of the results of a facility’s most recent food safety inspection has won approval by the county board. The program, which will begin a training period soon and will take effect next year, requires restaurants to post a placard that uses familiar traffic signal colors to show whether the facility passed its last safety inspection (green), received a provisional pass (yellow), or failed (red) and will be closed until problems are fixed. The placard system affects 3,000 permanent food facilities, including restaurants, mobile food trucks, bakeries, schools, licensed health care facilities, and some convenience stores.