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NY1 Investigation Reveals Prevalence Of Health Code Violations At NYC School Cafeterias
By
Paula Mejía
Published Feb 26, 2019
Modified Feb 26, 2019
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U.S. Department of Agriculture/Creative Commons
By
Paula Mejía
Published Feb 26, 2019
Modified Feb 26, 2019
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A damning report released this week by NY1 revealed that nearly 1,000 New York City public school cafeterias were slammed with health code violations in the first eight months of 2018.
The report found that of the 934 school cafeterias with violations, 336 of them had mouse droppings on the premises, and 99 schools had live roaches creeping around sinks and floors. At least one had a rat problem. That's not even mentioning the reports of fruit flies buzzing around drains, and sightings of moldy food (watermelon and green beans, to be exact), as well as pink mold in an ice-making machine (at the Bronx's P.S. 277 and Queens Metropolitan High School, respectively).
The report, culled from a FOIL investigation of school cafeteria health inspection results, is nevertheless an improvement from past years: In 2017, inspectors found critical health code violations at 1,256 schools, and 1,456 the year before that. The Health Department grades school cafeterias in the same way they grade restaurants and, as of late, food carts, ensuring food is made safely and stored at adequate temperatures. But unlike restaurants and food carts, school cafeterias' "grades" aren't available for the public to see.
“Students deserve safe and healthy food, and 99 percent of our cafeterias pass inspections," Miranda Barbot, a spokesperson for the Department of Education, tells Gothamist in a statement.
It's not exactly a secret that mice have been plaguing school cafeterias for years, but how widespread and consistent these violations are is alarming. The Department of Education tells Gothamist that they hired a Director of Food Safety and Quality Assurance in 2017 to assist with the violations, and that there's currently an audit underway to review all food contracts. They also note that several schools in the report, including PS 277, have gone through additional training to rectify their respective issues and stay up to code in the future.
Here, you can search this list for what issues were found at specific schools.
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