How Serious Are The DOH Letter Grades?

Now that Health Department's restaurant letter grading system is going full steam, the spotlight is on some well known restaurants to see how they do. But is the Health Department grading fairly? McSorley's Ale House's last grading would put them in C range, with violations for cold food being held above 41 degrees, evidence of flies and for the facility not being vermin proof. However, Di Fara Pizzeria in Midwood would get away with a B, even though their violations sounded much worse.

They were found with evidence of mice and flies in food areas, insufficient refrigeration equipment and poorly maintained plumbing, which sounds just as bad as anything McSorley's was guilty of. Di Fara is widely renowned for having one of the best pies in the city, even though they've been dirty for a while now. But plenty of other high end restaurants are on track to get some low grades.

The Regency Hotel was hit with 44 violation points the last time they were graded, putting them in C range, even though executive chef Stephen Crocker said, "I run one of the cleanest kitchens in the city. You could eat off the floor here." Violations were issued for dirty/cracked eggs, inadequate personal cleanliness, improperly washed food contact surfaces and "Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan."

Crocker says the "critical" violations are not as bad as they sound. He said, "The inspector found one egg out of 21.2 dozen...that was cracked. And we got points because one employee put on rubber gloves to split a strawberry with a steak knife to garnish a yogurt and he didn't have a hairnet on." Yet Di Fara only got 28 violation points, even though evidence of mice seems like a much worse offense than finding one cracked egg. So, should the DOH start grading on a sliding scale, or should we all just start frequenting Spark's Deli more often?

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By Jaya Saxena in Food on August 8, 2010 1:27 PM

Comments [rss]

Brad

First of all, who the heck actually eats at McSorley's?? I mean a cheese and cracker platter, fine, but you'd have to be very drunk to each much more there and I LOVE the place. And let's see..the BEST PIZZA in the city is served in a place that's a bit dirty?? Really?? Ever been there? It's not spotless, but with food that good, give them a break. McSorley's and DiFara are 2 true New York treasures.

Brad Marcus

www.MarcusInteractive.com

James

It is common place for auditors to use their judgement during inspections and of course any inspection can only be a snapshot of hygiene at that point in time. this is why inspectors need to be trained to the same standards across the board and require a specification of the standard rather than use their judgement.

Inspections need far more work done on them before you can truely have a yardstick to measure standards by.

James Flynn

HACCP Now

http://www.haccpnow.co.uk

jaycjay

"evidence of flies"

Another example. "Evidence of flies" is no longer a violation. Under the new rule 4O, only the presence of "filth flies or food/refuse/sewage associated flies" results in points, and fewer than six flies between March and October does not count against you (so that simply opening a window won't result in a violation; the idea is to target only infestations within the establishment.

jaycjay

The letter grades come along with other changes. You can't simply take the scores that restaurants got before July and translate to a letter grade, because even the inspectors find exactly the same conditions the next time, the scores will be different -- in most cases, lower... resulting in a higher grade than you're projecting.

"The inspector found one egg out of 21.2 dozen...that was cracked."

Maybe that's true. Maybe it's not. Since you're taking his word for it, look at the new language in rule 4H (which used to be 4I before the changes were implemented). Number of unsafe food items is now counted, instead of just noting that there are unsafe items in a particular area. Problem solved.

"evidence of mice seems like a much worse offense than finding one cracked egg."

Really? A cracked egg, again taking the owner's word that that's all there was, says something about food handling practices and how closely kitchen workers are paying attention to food safety.

"Evidence of mice" basically says that you're in a building in New York City.

Anyway, look at the new rule 4L. It now makes a lot of difference where the "evidence" is, and even how many droppings there are -- or if live mice are found.

Again, the scores today will be much different that even if exactly the same conditions are found as were in those older inspections.