City of Baltimore - File #: 13-0096R

• File #: 13-0096R
• Version: 0
• Name: In Support of State Legislation - Food Service Facilities Letter Grading
• Type: City Council Resolution
• Status: Adopted
• File created: 3/4/2013
• In control: City Council
• Final action: 3/4/2013
• Title: In Support of State Legislation - Food Service Facilities Letter Grading FOR the purpose of supporting the passage and enactment of HB 1217, or similar legislation, to establish a statewide letter grading system for health inspections of food service facilities.
• Sponsors: Bill Henry, James B. Kraft, Nick Mosby, Brandon M. Scott
• Indexes: Food Service, Resolution

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result
3/4/2013	0	City Council	Introduced
3/4/2013	0	City Council	Advanced to 2nd Reader on same day
3/4/2013	0	City Council	Adopted

* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*

CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)

Introduced by: Councilmember Henry


A RESOLUTION ENTITLED

A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
title
In Support of State Legislation - Food Service Facilities Letter Grading

FOR the purpose of supporting the passage and enactment of HB 1217, or similar legislation, to establish a statewide letter grading system for health inspections of food service facilities.
body

Recitals

House Bill 1217, currently pending in the General Assembly, would align Maryland with a growing national trend by requiring food service facilities, such as restaurants and food trucks, to post letter grades indicating their degree of compliance with health and sanitation laws.
This type of requirement improves transparency for consumers, allowing clean establishments to take full advantage of their investments in sanitation as a competitive advantage over corner-cutting competitors. Required grade posting therefore provides a stronger incentive to keep cleanliness levels as high as possible rather than accepting occasional unpublicized fines as simply a cost of doing business that unsavory establishments can balance against the cost of complying with health regulations, often to the public’s detriment.

For these reasons, Baltimore is currently considering implementing an inspection grade posting system of its own. However, concerns have been raised about costs of developing and administering the proposed system, as w...