Boston Restaurants May Soon Display Grades On Cleanliness

BOSTON (CBS) -- Pretty soon, finding a clean restaurant may be as easy as A, B, or C.

Boston will soon start handing out grades from A to C for restaurant cleanliness.

Chris Coombs, the chef owner of Boston Chops in the South End, says  letter grading system for his establishment would be a plus.

"If it gives people more security to dine out and feel like they're eating at a clean place, I think its great for the consumer" says Coombs.

For the first year the grades would be posted online. Eventually they may be displayed in restaurant windows.

Some say the grades could be deceptive.

"If you have a freezer that's working perfectly fine that's at or below temperature if there's not a thermometer right next to it, that's a critical violation," says Mass.  Restaurant Association president Bob Luz.

"And I think you and I would agree that doesn't mean that the meal I'm going to get inside that restaurant is necessarily bad," Luz said.

The new system could be in  place by the first of the year. Similar programs exist in Los Angeles and New York.