As a journalist, I’ve covered a lot of bad news. Shootings. Hurricanes. Crimes, both petty and felonious. But one phrase from my reporting haunts me more than most: “biofilm on the ice machine.”
That description comes up often in the roundups of Tennessee Department of Health restaurant inspection reports that I have covered in Nashville. Trust me, Googling the definition of “biofilm” will not make you feel better about that next cold soda you order.
To be fair, the most remarkable thing I’ve learned covering health inspection reports is how well most restaurants score. Nearly every month, the median score of Davidson County restaurants hovers around 97 out of 100. And even the worst offenders often boost their scores into the 90s on a follow-up inspection…