Some things I don't want to know too much about, including (in Twain's words) the making of law and sausages. However, if you are curious about the sanitation in your favorite dining establishment, the Columbus Board of Health inspection reports can give you the down and dirty.

The department is about start a new program in which restaurants will be required to color-coded signs indicating the findings of the most recent inspection. Green will indicate a clean slate, yellow for corrections needed, white for probation and red for restaurants shut down for violations. A blue sign indicates a place that has had no problems for at least a year.

I checked a few local restaurants at random, to get a sense of what the inspectors look for and how strictly they inspect. I was impressed by the detail of their work, and pleased with the results of their inspections.

For an example, I looked at a few recent inspections, (and understand these are not worse-cases; they are simply random choices, and all of the have satisfied these Health Department's concerns). Their reports:

The Cheesecake Factory: mid-priced casual dining at Easton Mall.
Soda guns soiled with mold inside. Cook used bare hands to put cheese on pasta. Garlic and oil at 65F, should be 41F or below.

Waffle House, Dublin-Granville Road: You know Waffle House!
Cook changed gloves without washing hands. Raw beef stored above sliced ham and cream in fridge. Can opener and prep sink dirty.

Pizza House, E. Lincoln Ave. Both carryout and in-house dining.
Raw eggs stored above soda in fridge, cheese stored too warm, lack of date-marking of sliced ham, food surfaces dirty, employees drinking from unlidded containers in kitchen, cook did not know proper way to cool foods, raw chicken and beef stored above bread, food prep with bare hands, salad stored in garbage can, dirty can opener, ice machine drainage improperly air gapped.

M- Perhaps the most upscale restaurant in town.
Partially eaten apple on cold prep table. Chef assembled mini-burger with bare hands. Mashed potatoes held for hours were not time-dated. Waiter didn't properly warn patron of the danger of under-cooked meat. Ice machine was soiled.

I am reassured both by the detailed inspection and the fairly mundane violations found.