MANILA, Philippines–To safeguard public health, a councilor has pushed for the classification of restaurants and other food establishments in Quezon City based on sanitation standards.
According to the draft ordinance of Allan Butch Francisco of the fifth district, establishments in the city which serve food may be rated very clean, passably tidy and downright unsanitary based on the latest sanitation inspection report of the Quezon City health
department.
In his draft ordinance Francisco stressed the importance of promoting public health by making people aware of a restaurant’s cleanliness rating.
Francisco said that while there was a 2006 ordinance requiring the display by food service establishments of their sanitary permits, “there [was] a need for updating and codifying the sanitary report in keeping with modern standards of sanitation….”
The local health office conducts a sanitary inspection every six months to check on, among others, the construction and maintenance of the restaurant or food joint; the provision of toilets and hand-washing facilities; and food handling.
Under the proposed measure, restaurants and other food joints are to be rated by the local health department into: “A,” meaning it has passed all maximum requirements as provided by the Sanitary Code and existing ordinances; “B,” it has passed the minimum requirement in the sanitary inspection; and “C,” it failed to comply with all sanitary requirements.