Scores on doors: restaurant hygiene ratings and public health policy

International Tourists’ Protection Intentions to Use Food Hygiene Cues in the Choice of Destination Local Restaurants

“…The second part was designed to address the protection intentions of international tourists to use food hygiene indicators in their choice of local restaurant using a seven-point Likert scale, where 1= strongly disagree and 7= strongly agree. Fifteen food hygiene indicators were adopted and adapted from the previous literature (Aksoydan, 2007;Ali et al, 2019;Bai et al, 2019;Barber & Scarcelli, 2009;Barber et al, 2011;Choi et al, 2019;Harris et al, 2018;Henson et al, 2006;Fleetwood, 2019;Park et al, 2016;Yeung &Yee, 2013). The study instrument was given to a panel of experts in the fields of food safety and hospitality management to evaluate the face and content validity of the food hygiene measures.…”

“…A growing body of the consumer behavior literature suggests that the provision of food safety-related information in the form of inspection notices is a reliable source of information that consumers consider in restaurant selection (Choi et al, 2013;Choi et al, 2019;Fleetwood, 2019;Uggioni & Salay, 2014;Vainio et al, 2020;Wong et al, 2015). These inspection notices either in the form of a letter, or grade, are issued by local health authorities and simply measure a restaurant's compliance with the front of the house and backstage sanitation codes.…”

“…This may be because comments are perceived as reliable when they are posted by people with whom readers have close social relationships (Pan & Chiou, 2011) as supported by the current study results (see last item in Table 1). Although official inspection scores may be the most reliable and visible indicators to communicate food safety related information to consumers (Fleetwood, 2019), the respondents highly relied on their subjective judgements of cleanliness of resturant environment, equipment, and staff in restaurant selection. The adoption of these risk mitigation measures may substantially deviate from required action solely due to the perception of disease risk (Usuwa, 2020).…”

The Impact of the Public Disclosure of Curved Inspection Scores Using Emojis on Hygiene Violations in Food Establishments

“…The effects of these displays on public health outcomes are assessed by analyzing inspection scores as well as public health indicators. Related to improvements in hygiene inspection scores, Fleetwood (2019) describes that the likelihood of receiving an "A" grade increased by 35% after New York City implemented the mandatory posting of food establishment grades. Over time, 93% of the food establishments received an "A" grade in New York City.…”

“…The modes comprise letter grades, scores, and, more recently, emojis. Fleetwood (2019) describes that some U.S. states require statewide disclosure (North Carolina), whereas others have a central office for food establishment inspectors (Florida). Display formats are also not standardized across cities.…”