Recently, the Taipei City Government adopted a new policy to ensure the city's restaurants provide quality food and service. According to a news report, well-trained food inspectors have started going incognito, patronizing various restaurants and giving evaluations and ratings.

Close to 10,000 restaurants have participated in the project. Those with exceptional service will be certified and promoted in the 2009 edition of the restaurant guide "Delicious Food in Taipei," which will be published in several languages. A total of 500 distinguished restaurants will be selected for recommendation in the plan's first phase.

The news report did not specifically mention whether hygiene is a major criterion in the inspection. We hope it is, because many of the restaurants, despite their reputation for serving tasty food, fail to maintain acceptable standards of hygiene, especially in kitchen areas. The government should adopt procedures that ensure eating establishments prepare all food under strict sanitary conditions. Generally speaking, the first-class eateries in Taiwan are attentive to hygiene, and smaller restaurants are more careless about maintaining high standards.

Each local government should send inspectors to check up on restaurant kitchens and rate their hygiene practices. Restaurants that score high should get awards or certification, and those scoring low should be subject to a fine if not ordered to close down.