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Dining with Confidence: The Causal Effect of Food Safety Disclosure on Restaurant Compliance

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  • Gurung, Suraj
  • Gao, Zhifeng
  • Chen, Lijun
  • Ward, Patrick
  • Magnier, Alexandre

Abstract

Detroit launched the mandatory phase of the Dining with Confidence (DwC) program on October 1, 2024, requiring licensed food service establishments to display color-coded compliance placards based on inspection outcomes. This study estimates the short-run effect of DwC on restaurant inspection outcomes using a Synthetic Difference-in-Differences (SDID) framework. Detroit inspection records were obtained from the Detroit Open Data portal, while records for comparison counties were collected from publicly accessible county inspection databases using custom webscraping scripts. After harmonizing county-specific records, the analysis uses all inspection types and constructs a balanced municipality-quarter panel with Detroit as the treated unit and 37 donor municipalities. The main SDID estimate indicates a reduction of 0.369 total violations per inspection after the mandatory rollout (SE = 0.176). Sensitivity checks generally produce negative but less precise estimates. The findings provide preliminary evidence that DwC was associated with lower observed violations during the first four post-treatment quarters.

Suggested Citation

  • Gurung, Suraj & Gao, Zhifeng & Chen, Lijun & Ward, Patrick & Magnier, Alexandre, 2026. "Dining with Confidence: The Causal Effect of Food Safety Disclosure on Restaurant Compliance," 2026 Annual Meeting, July 26 - 28, 2026, Kansas City, Missouri 404584, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea26:404584
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.404584
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    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/404584/files/177576_199134_115232_AAEA_DWC_2026.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Cruz, M.A. & Katz, D.J. & Suarez, J.A., 2001. "An assessment of the ability of routine restaurant inspections to predict food-borne outbreaks in Miami-Dade County, Florida," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 91(5), pages 821-823.
    3. Weijia Dai & Michael Luca, 2020. "Digitizing Disclosure: The Case of Restaurant Hygiene Scores," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 41-59, May.
    4. Ginger Zhe Jin & Phillip Leslie, 2003. "The Effect of Information on Product Quality: Evidence from Restaurant Hygiene Grade Cards," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(2), pages 409-451.
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