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Lexington Restaurant Scores Go Green And Red

lexingtonhealthdepartment.org
New sample restaurant health inspection sheet features color-coded rating boxes.

Restaurants will soon debut new health inspection reports, using a system the county health department believes will be easier for diners to decode.

Lexington eateries are subject to surprise health inspections every six months, but the resulting score sheets aren’t always serving their intended purpose.

"They're not the easiest to read, they're not the easiest to find, and they're not the best looking options for a restaurant to put on the wall," Fayette Health Department spokesman Kevin Hall explains.

Hall notes the vast majority of restaurants take the inspections very seriously – often earning scores in the 90s or occasionally a coveted perfect 100 – but it’s important to know when they’re not stacking up. Hence new color-coded placards.

"One of the biggest features (is) going to be a green box for the score written in it for a passing grade and then a red box with the score written in for a failing grade," he says.

One warning: the grading system isn’t exactly like the one you’re familiar with from school. Typically, a score of 85 or higher is considered passing, though the passing or failing designation depends on what types of violations the establishment has racked up.

"It will be marked on the cards whether this is a routine inspection or a follow-up inspection," Hall says. "If it's marked as a follow-up, go to the health department website and look to see what that previous inspection was. Maybe it's going to be too low. Maybe you don't want to eat there."

And those scores will be posted quicker, now that the department has adopted a new tablet-based reporting system that eliminates some hard copy work.

The most recent round of scores can always be found at lexingtonhealthdepartment.org.

Josh James fell in love with college radio at Western Kentucky University's student station, New Rock 92 (now Revolution 91.7). After working as a DJ and program director, he knew he wanted to come home to Lexington and try his hand in public radio.