Diners be "warned"

You have to wonder just who creates the wording on public notices! Do they even think about their words, or do they just follow the training in those expensive workshops they go to in exotic places on the taxpayers' dime or the verbiage foisted on them by the State Department of Health?

I was in a Woodstock restaurant today and had a little extra time while awaiting the arrival of the man I was to meet there.

On the health permit from the McHenry County Department of Health was the following wording, in part: "A Category 1 Risk Establishment (Food Service/Liquor) (The relative risk is not related to the sanitation level of the food establishment.)"

WHOA! Should I eat here? Is it safe? What's "Category 1"? Is that high or low? What's a "Category 1 Risk"?

My quarrel here is with the word "risk". Why would the County use the word "risk" on a health permit?

Of course, I'm probably the only person who ever read the Permit, which was framed and displayed, as required, in public view.

No need to name the establishment. The permit with that wording must be in every restaurant in the County.

Would a restaurateur dare complain about the word "risk"? Would that bring down the wrath of the Department of Health on his or her establishment?