Yolo County Adopts Color-Coded Food Safety Placards

If you're eating-out in West Sacramento, Davis, Woodland or anywhere else in Yolo County, you'll notice something new near the restaurant's front door: a color-coded placard rating the business' food safety inspection results. The placards debuted this week in Yolo County.

Sacramento County's been using a similar system for a decade.

April Meneghetti is Yolo County's Environmental Health Division Manager.

"A lot of our consumers are going across the river and eating in Sacramento and other places," says Meneghetti. "So they've actually been kind of asking for it for the last few years. So everybody's pretty much been really looking forward to it. We haven't gotten any really concerns voiced."

"The California food code does not require that a placard be posted or that a grade be posted," says Meneghetti. "But it is a trend that's going on in the state and across the country and we feel like it really does give a consumer a better understanding of the safety of that facility."

A green placard means the restaurant, grocery store, deli or other food-business passed inspection, yellow means there were infractions that have been corrected and red means the business failed and is now closed.

"We wanted to start at the beginning of the fiscal year," says Meneghetti. "So that's why we picked the July 1 start date. And July 1 started...it was a Saturday, and then with the (July 4th) holiday, today will be the first day that the actual placards will be posted on facilities."

Yolo County has always done food safety inspections but consumers would either have to look online or ask the business to see the results.

Yolo County has five food safety inspectors, who also check out public swimming pools and sub-standard housing.