Detroit Evening Report: City of Detroit launches color-coded food safety ordinance for restaurants

Detroit's "Dining with Confidence" ordinance red card.

A red card from Detroit's "Dining with Confidence" ordinance.


The city of Detroit has officially launched its “Dining with Confidence” ordinance. The measure uses a color-coded system to tell diners how a restaurant has performed when it comes to Michigan’s food safety code.

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Each color represents the following:

  • Green means a restaurant has no serious food safety violations and its food service license is up to date.
  • A white card means the establishment has violations it needs to correct. That card will also contain information a prospective diner can use to look up inspection results on the Detroit Health Department’s Open Data Portal.
  • A red card means the restaurant has been closed because it doesn’t have a valid food service license, is in the final step of a violation enforcement, or poses a serious safety risk.

Restaurants will eventually receive the cards from the city health department.

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Author

  • Jerome Vaughn is News Director at 101.9 WDET. His interest in news reporting began when he was five years old, after his mom bought him a yellow Panasonic ball and chain radio.