Boston To Grade Restaurants On Cleanliness

BOSTON (AP) — Boston next year will start issuing letter grades to the city's restaurants to give diners a better idea of an establishment's cleanliness and food handling practices.

The grades — A, B or C — will be posted online at first, but eventually they could be displayed at the roughly 3,000 restaurants, cafeterias, and food trucks in the city.

Restaurants that get a C would get a chance to improve their grade with a re-inspection within 30 days.

William Christopher of Boston's Inspectional Services Department tells The Boston Globe (http://bit.ly/1L83V1C ) the goal is better inform the public and reduce health code violations.

Other cities, including New York and Los Angeles, have similar systems.

The head of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association says such grading systems can oversimplify the results of restaurant inspections.