NY grocery inspections reveal violations. How did Trader Joe’s do in Ithaca?

Trader Joe’s grocery stores in New York tallied dozens of A grades during state food safety inspections over the past two years.

The California-based chain earned 48 A grades after surprise visits to stores from Long Island to Buffalo by inspectors with the state Department of Agriculture and Markets.

But state inspectors view anything less than an A as a failing grade. And Trader Joe’s had seven Bs at stores in Buffalo, Brooklyn, New York City and Long Island for violations that could be fixed on the same day.

Among the B violations were shelves with old food debris and a live fly in a retail area. The chain also had two stores in the Finger Lakes and Hudson Valley that received C’s — which are considered a critical deficiency that requires a second, unannounced visit.

In Ithaca, the store received two A grades during visits in 2023 and 2024. The store opened in 2021 and is located in the retail plaza at 744 S. Meadow St.

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Which Trader Joe’s stores earned C grades?

The most serious violations — C grades — came at stores in Scarsdale in March 2025 and in Rochester the same month. At both stores, inspectors found mouse droppings on shelves.

At the Scarsdale store, there were rodent gnaw marks on bags of chips and in Rochester rodent activity on a bag of flavored almonds.

The Scarsdale store received an A during a follow-up visit on Aug. 28, 2025. It’s unclear what grade the Monroe Avenue store received on a subsequent visit. It had received a B grade in October 2024 and an A in January 2025, a few months before the C rating.

A spokesperson for Trader Joe’s did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ratings, which also included 14 stores that earned A’s in back-to-back years — 2024 and 2025 — and one in New York City that tallied three A’s, according to a review of state inspection data.

Inspections: About one in four NY grocery stores, delis, bodegas, food warehouses failed inspections

The USA TODAY Network has spent the past few months taking a closer look at state inspection data for grocery stores, food warehouses, delis and bodegas. Last year, one of every four of the 22,000 state inspections conducted by the Department of Agriculture and Markets resulted in B or C grades.

Stores are required to post their grades in a prominent position in the store.

Here’s a look at grades for Trader Joe’s stores in Westchester, Monroe, Erie, Albany, Tompkins, Onondaga and Saratoga counties.

Albany

79 Wolf Road, Albany: A (2024) and A (2025)

Erie

1565 Niagara Falls Boulevard, Buffalo: A (2024) and B (2025) and A (2025)

Monroe

3349 Monroe Avenue, Rochester: B (2024) and A (2025) and C (2025)

Onondaga

3440 Erie Boulevard East, Syracuse: A (2024) and A (2025)

Saratoga

3 Halfmoon Crossing, Clifton Park: A (2024) and A (2025)

Tompkins

744 South Meadow Street, Ithaca: A (2023) and A (2024)

Westchester

72 White Plains Road, Scarsdale: C (March 2025) and A (August 2025)

215 North Central Avenue, Hartsdale: A (2024) and A (2025)

3220 Old Crompond Road, Yorktown Heights: A (2024) Westchester

1260 Boston Post Road, Larchmont: A (2024)  and A (2025)

For more details about specific food safety inspections in New York, visit the state inspection results here through data.ny.gov.

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 Ithaca Journal: NY grocery inspections reveal violations, grades at Trader Joe’s