GRADING EATERIES REDUCES ILLNESS 13% FEWER HOSPITAL STAYS ARE REPORTED.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

Los Angeles County's restaurant grading system - one of the few of its kind in the state - has resulted in a 13 percent decline in hospitalizations for food-borne disease, a study released Thursday found.

The public visibility of the letter grades posted at restaurant entrances has produced an economic incentive for restaurants to improve, the report found.

``This translates into literally hundreds of severe food-borne illnesses prevented because of the grade cards and stepped-up restaurant inspections program,'' said Dr. Jonathan E. Fielding, the county's public health officer.

``This study provides the first real evidence that the use of publicly posted grade cards at restaurants and other commercial food establishments as part of a toughened inspection system can reduce food-borne illness and protect the public's health.''

The study, reported in the March issue of the Journal of Environmental Health, examined hospitalizations from 1993 to 2000. It found that the decrease in hospitalizations was sustained over a three-year period after introduction of the grade cards and revised inspection system.

The number of hospitalizations from food-borne illness dropped from 382 in 1997, before the grading program began, to 280 by 2000. The pattern was not observed in the rest of the state.

Kidd Wong, a 32-year-old Los Angeles city clerk who had just eaten at a downtown restaurant with a B grade, said he feels safer knowing the county is grading restaurants.

``It's much safer,'' Wong said. ``If the restaurant has a C grade, you know it's really bad. But I can accept a B.''

Earlier studies had shown that the grading program increased compliance with food-handling and sanitation requirements in restaurants, improved inspection scores restaurants received and influenced consumers' restaurant choices.

From 1997-98 to 2003-04, the percentage of retail food establishments in the county that received an A grade increased from 58 percent to 80 percent, the percentage with B grades dropped from 26 percent to 18 percent and those with C grades fell from 10 percent to 3 percent. The percentage that received less than a C grade decreased from 6 percent to three-tenths of 1 percent.

The county's 190 health inspectors conduct 62,000 to 72,000 inspections annually at 36,500 restaurants and retail food establishments.

The Board of Supervisors created the grading system in early 1998 after a hidden-camera report by KCBS (Channel 2) showed filthy kitchens and sloppy food-handling techniques in some restaurants.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that food-borne illnesses cause about 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths each year nationwide. The study found about half of the outbreaks nationwide are associated with food consumed in restaurants and other commercial food establishments.

The county is one of several in the state that post grades at restaurants and food establishments, including Riverside, San Diego and San Bernardino counties. However, the majority of counties in California and the rest of the nation do not impose such requirements or do not provide clear incentives for restaurants to give priority attention to food hygiene at all times.

``This program affords the citizens of Los Angeles County the opportunity to have the vital safety and health information necessary to make informed choices about which restaurant facilities to patronize,'' said county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who initiated the grading program.

Troy Anderson, [phone]

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com