Nearly one out of every four of the 22,000 grocery stores, food warehouses, delis and bodegas inspected in New York last year got failing grades for dirty meat grinders, food too hot or too cold, rodents, vermin and other critical food safety violations.
And some 2.5 million pounds of food was seized after state inspectors determined it wasn’t suitable for public consumption, USA TODAY Network has found.
The statistics are culled from the work of dozens of inspectors from New York’s Department of Agriculture and Markets who fan out across the state each day for surprise visits at retail stores that carry cheese, dairy and meat products.
“Our inspectors are looking at everything from the condition of the facility,” said Katie Howard, the deputy commissioner of the department. “Is there insect, rodent, bird, vermin activity that’s likely to result in a foodborne pathogen or contamination? You’re looking at food contact equipment. Is there rusted metal on the surface? Has it been properly cleaned? Is it potentially hazardous food.”
A customer shops in the ready to eat meals aisle of a grocery store in October 2024.
What we know about NY grocery store inspections
Those sites that don’t pass are giving failing grades of B or C, which they must post in a conspicuous location at the facility. B’s mean critical deficiencies were found — perhaps employees not washing their hands correctly or food not stored at safe temperatures — and can be corrected at the time of the inspection.
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Getting a C means inspectors will be back at the site within 60 to 90 days unannounced for a surprise follow-up.
Find your grocery store inspection grades in NY
The state agency compiles much of the information in a public database that customers can search to see how their food establishment is doing. You can access the database here through data.ny.gov.
We took a look and found 130,343 violations across the state. Of those, roughly more than 100,000 were failing grades of Bs and C’s.
That doesn’t mean 100,000 grocery stores failed, according to Dan McCarthy, the director of the Food Safety and Inspection. There are about 36,000 such food establishments in the state.
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Each line entry counts a violation and one store could have racked up a dozen during one inspection.
The top three violations cited are insect, vermin, rodent, bird of vermin activity; food contact surfaces that aren’t cleaned properly and employee handwashing.
Rodent, vermin, insects…oh my
Geography doesn’t matter. Rodents, insects and vermin aren’t discriminating.
“It isn’t just an urban thing,” said McCarthy. “Some of the very rural stores also have problems.”
Establishments that refuse to correct their deficiencies risk having their permits renewed. Last year the state held 119 revocation hearings and issued 89 injunctions.
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The goal is compliance. Establishments with failing grades are educated on how to do better next time.
“We do take educate while you regulate pretty seriously here in New York and we make sure that we walk them through,” Howard said. “We all want to get into compliance. I don’t think anybody wants to serve bad food.”
Thomas C. Zambito covers energy, transportation and economic growth for the USA Today Network’s New York State team. He’s won dozens of state and national writing awards from the Associated Press, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Deadline Club and others during a decades-long career that’s included stops at the New York Daily News, The Star-Ledger of Newark and The Record of Hackensack. He can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Did your NY grocery store get a passing safety grade? Find out here
