Under the new system, restaurants in the county get three inspections a year, while markets and produce stands each get two. Sacramento conducted 5,600 food inspections in 2004, before the red-yellow-green program started. Last year, it conducted more than 16,000. To carry out all that enforcement, the county has doubled the number of inspectors it employs, from 15 nearly a decade ago to 31 today.
I first wrote about this back in 2006, and I can’t think I’ve ever seen a yellow or red card around town.
The county handed out 680 yellow placards in 2010, compared with more than 1,100 three years earlier. Red-placard smackdowns have held steady at just over 110 annually.
With this information, I decided to test out the Sac Food mobile app that CoolDMZ wrote about in September. It’s not bad, but I’m not sure how much I’ll use it. The map feature is decent while the list option is more useful. It does include gas stations, schools, and liquor stores though. A full explanation on the tool along with a training video are also available. It uses the very cool Google Fusion Tables. Sacramento’s most-robbed banks anyone?
The best part of the app so far was this review by “mchang” (1 of only 2 in the Android marketplace! Come on, trollers, where you at?).
Useless. Many Chinese restaurants are not available when I check on freeport blvd.
Try again, mchang.
Oh, and Sugar Plum Vegan is rocking the green placard.
The Sac Rag 