By Nyree Knox
For the Daily Titan

Say goodbye to the old restaurant grading system; Orange County has decided to use special placards to grade restaurants. Since Oct. 1, all Orange County restaurants have been required to post one of three placards: pass, due for re-inspection or closed.

“There are no scores, only major violations or minor violations,” said Richard Sanchez, the director of Environmental Health for the Orange County Health Department.

Two or fewer violations are a “pass.” A minor violation is something that can be fixed while the inspector is there. “Re-inspection due” means an inspector will come back to ensure the problem is gone. Underneath “re-inspection due,” the placard will say “pass.” “Closed” means the restaurant has one or more major violations that can pose a health risk to the public, Sanchez said.

Sanchez gave an example of a major violation being a clogged sink. “It is actually a really common major violation … There can be contaminated waste in a sink due to clogging.”

The Orange County Board of Supervisors had to decide on one of three options: placards, letter grades or color codes. The color codes, red, yellow, and green, were much like the placards.

“Red meant closed because of one or more major violations, yellow meant passing with issues and due for re-inspection and green meant pass,” said Douglas Cox, policy adviser of the Health Care Agency of Environmental Health.

Bassel Salloum, owner of the Cantina Lounge in Fullerton, thought the color-coded placards would call more attention to a restaurant’s inspection grade. “We have passed the inspection every time since we’ve opened. There are always going to be the simplest reasons to lose points,” Salloum said.

“I think having the letter grades are better because it shows to what degree the restaurant needs improvement. The placards don’t give enough information,” said Janessa Gray, 23, a junior at Cal State Fullerton.

Others, like Anne Witkowsky, 22, a CSUF junior, think there is little difference between the letter grades and the placards. “They’re the same thing except the placards might be a little more unclear.”

The Orange County Health Department provides a detailed description of how the inspections are conducted, examples of major and minor violations, and how restaurants are graded on their Web site, OCFoodInfo.com. The Web site also contains the names of closed restaurants and the reasons for their closure.