Customers searching for a place to dine may soon want to look at more than the restaurant’s menu. Soon,
restaurants in Wood County with sanitary food handling practices will be able to display "Clean
Plate Award" decals on their front doors.
While some health departments assign letter grades to restaurants, the Wood County Health Department
recently decided to recognize sanitary operations.
"We thought it would be better to create an award to recognize our outstanding food
operations," said Brad Espen, director of environmental services at the health department. "We
want to recognize our good operations and to promote good food handling practices and employee
hygiene."
It will be up to local restaurants to apply for the voluntary program.
Restaurants, of which there are 671 licensed operations in the county, will be judged on the following
criteria:
¥ Number of critical and non-critical violations.
¥ Whether or not violations are corrected at the time of the inspection.
¥ Number of employees certified in food safety.
"You can get points for having training for employees," explained Kristin Tillison, a
sanitarian at the health department.
So far, just three restaurants in the county have applied for the "Clean Plate Award," but
others may feel the need to earn the decal if customers start making dining choices based on the posted
awards, Espen said.
"I definitely think so," he said of customers seeking out award-winners when making dining
selections.
The award will be offered on an annual basis, with applications due by March 31 this year. In order to be
eligible, food service operations must:
¥ Have no confirmed foodborne illness within two years.
¥ Have the same licensee for at least one full year.
¥ Have no administrative hearings for violations in past two licensing periods.
The awards can be stripped from restaurants that don’t keep up with requirements.
"We can take the award away if they have more critical violations," Tillison said.
