DETROIT (WXYZ) — The Detroit City Council passed the Dining with Confidence ordinance on Tuesday. 7 News Detroit reported on the concept late last year.
The city said restaurants that pass the health and safety inspection are required to display a green placard to let customers know the establishment is safe to order from.
One of the restaurants that participated in the city of Detroit's Dining with Confidence pilot project is longtime soul food restaurant chef Greg's Soul-N-The-Wall.
Watch our previous story about the pilot program below:
“I’m the only one in Detroit, Michigan, the United States, that’s got the Bougaloo Wonderland sandwich," chef Greg Beard said.
Beard is one of the first to receive a green placard.
“My health department agent contacted me and they let me know that I got mine,” he said. “If it takes this type of thing to make sure you do what you should already be doing, then I’m welcoming it.
“When you’re putting something in someone’s body like this, it’s very important that you be respectful with it."
The city said having no placard simply means the restaurant didn’t achieve the highest marks for a green placard. But as a worse-case scenario, a red placard must be displayed if the health department shuts a restaurant down.
VIDEO: Should Detroit restaurants display their health inspection grades? Reactions are mixed
7 News Detroit spoke with a customer, James Powers II, about the concept.
“I mean, it might be good because it’ll help with the cleanliness, I mean, letting me know is it a good place to go to, how safe it is, how sterile and things of that nature," Powers said.
7 News Detroit spoke with Councilman Scott Benson who spearheaded the idea.
“This is really more about incentivizing restaurants to comply with basic food safety, and it’s an opportunity for them to display the fact they know how to maintain basic food safety," Benson said.
He said if a restaurant doesn’t achieve a green placard, they can have a re-inspection within 30 days and may also be able to correct their mistakes during the inspection.
The proposed ordinance in its previous form had received pushback. It was a three-color system that raised concerns, but Benson said the three-color system is void.
"We modified our ordinance. So initially, we had green, orange and red. Right now, we just have green and red. So, the orange has gone away. But if you don’t pass the inspection at a green level, then you don’t get a green placard. So the question will be where’s your green placard?” he explained.
