PHOTO: The city Health Department introduced the letter grading system for food establishments in July 2010. Forum Photo by Alan Krawitz
While the city Buildings Department has been ramping-up inspection efforts to curtail contractor violations, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene says that its own efforts at enforcement have had a positive impact, as restaurants are now receiving better sanitary review scores and are cleanest they have been since the agency introduced its letter grading system back in July 2010.
“Over the last five years, restaurant letter grading has successfully motivated restaurants to practice better food safety,” said Health Commissioner Mary Bassett, M.D. “The large number of A grades that are proudly displayed means that restaurants are attaining excellent compliance with food safety regulations, which has reduced the likelihood of food-borne illness and made dining out safer for all New Yorkers.”
DOHMH spokeswoman Carolina Rodriguez also credits the system for the effective changes to the restaurant industry.
“Five years into the program, NYC restaurants are now cleaner than ever, with 95 percent of the city’s 24,000 restaurants proudly posting an A grade,” she told The Forum.
Further, the department claims that letter grading has vastly diminished the public health risks associated with dining out, citing a 23 percent drop in violations from the peak in 2012.
Additionally, the agency said that 91 percent of New Yorkers approve of restaurant grading, while 88 percent use grades in making their dining decisions, according to a 2012 survey conducted by the City University of New York’s Baruch College.
There are roughly 165 health inspectors that are responsible for eateries in all five boroughs. They assign restaurants grades of A, B, or C that cover various issues, including food handling, food temperature, personal hygiene of employees, and vermin control.
Inspections are conducted at least once per year and are unannounced.
Violations are based on points—the fewer points an establishment accrues during an inspection, the better its overall score; this tally helps to determine a restaurant’s letter grade.
The Health Department also cited a 24 percent decline in reported Salmonella cases, and a drop in Critical Violations—inadequate hand washing facilities, foods being kept at the wrong temperature, and poor worker hygiene—as further evidence of the system’s constructive influence on the food-service industry.
But grading also has its detractors, including some restaurant owners and employees who declined to provide their names for fear of retribution from health inspectors.
“The whole letter grading system is just a money-maker for the city, that’s all it is,” said an employee at a restaurant on Jamaica Avenue in Woodhaven.
“Steve,” a retired police officer and patron of a different Jamaica Avenue eatery, said that inspectors look for “almost anything” when they visit, and often write violations for very minor offenses.
At another Woodhaven restaurant, an employee opined, “The letter system does stink. It can affect your business, and often the grade has nothing to do with cleanliness, just some things that are in violation of certain codes, such as not labeling a container as ‘hand soap.’”
However, she added that she acknowledges that inspectors have a job to do, likening them to traffic cops writing tickets.
“They can’t go back to their bosses and say ‘everything is clean and fine.’ It’s impossible,” she said. “They have to show that they’re doing their jobs, and writing violations is a big part.”
By Alan Krawitz
