Restaurants will be rated Silver, Platinum or No Grade, depending on their compliance with the ministry’s new standards. Each inspected establishment will have to post its rating at its entrance, “so that residents and tourists can decide to dine there or not,” Abu Faour said. The “Quality in Food Establishments and Restaurants” program aims to burnish the reputation of restaurants at home and abroad. “We want residents and tourists to feel confident in our restaurants, and we want to motivate our restaurants to improve, too,” he said. Joined by the heads of the country’s unions for restaurant owners, hoteliers and sea tourism, the health minister aimed to mollify potential industry concerns. “This is not a punitive program, but a regulatory one,” he said. “It is not a vengeful program, but a motivational one.” Tony al-Rami, the president of the Union of Restaurant Owners, urged restaurants to aim for the highest grade, and warned that inspections would be thorough. “It will be more than a visual inspection,” he said. Abu Faour said his ministry would provide specifications for “restaurants, snacks, stalls and other” food establishments to follow. Each will have three months after its preliminary inspection to make recommended changes and get a final grade. Inspectors will evaluate hygiene at every step of operation, from food preparation, to service, to clean up. They will also test food and water quality. Jean Beiruti, general-secretary of the Union of Sea Tourism Establishments, said, “Even though the water in the country is not always suitable, and the food is sometimes suspicious, it is still the responsibility of establishments” to prepare food so it is served safe and clean. He said restaurants are providing customers with “an end product.” The first round of inspections will evaluate 931 Beirut restaurants. Restaurants will also have to send employees to receive food safety training as part of the Health Ministry’s program. “All small and large establishments dealing with food preparation and service should assign an employee to attend regular training on food safety,” Abu Faour said. The health minister launched a campaign last year to clean up the food industry, leading to the temporary or permanent closure of hundreds of establishments. At the news conference Monday, Abu Faour said the campaign had “succeeded. … Its echoes reached many corners of the Arab world.” Now, it’s time to secure the gains made and encourage sanitation further. “The Lebanese have despaired of seasonal food safety campaigns. We’re starting a program that stops backsliding.” The Daily Star
