A new provincial health-safety system that assigns a colour rating to restaurants in New Brunswick risks ruining the standing of an eatery for an "innocuous" reason, says an industry spokesman.

Luc Erjavec, vice-president, Atlantic Canada, of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, doesn't like the new system, in which inspectors give a colour rating to a restaurant. The results are then posted on the government's website.

He said it's clear that green means safe and red means unsafe, but it's not clear enough what yellow means.

"You could get a yellow rating for, well, the ceiling fan doesn't work, or there's a cracked urinal or for one of a hundred reasons, and you could really destroy the reputation of a business for something that is actually quite innocuous," Erjavec said.

Following is a breakdown of what the ratings mean:

• Green, demonstrated a high level of compliance.
• Yellow, demonstrated that items need to be corrected within the allotted timeframe and a followup inspection is required. The establishment remains open.
• Red, demonstrated violations that represent a high risk to the public's health or a history of non-compliance. The Food Service Establishment Licence is revoked.

Of the five food providers in Fredericton with that rating as of Wednesday, four refused interview requests and the other was out of town.

Gary O'Toole is a project manager for New Brunswick's Department of Health.

He says people have access to the full inspection report, and may see why a restaurant received the rating it did; the information is just not available on the website.

"If individuals want specific information about a specific facility, they can call their local public health office and we will gladly provide a copy of an inspection report," O'Toole says.

The department says it hopes to make the full inspection reports available online within three years.