With so many restaurants across NYC, its hard to check the health grade of every single one. However, some foodies over at the tech company Enigma decided to make this information more accessible. Food for Thought has created an interactive map showing the health grades of about 300 restaurants throughout NYC.
You can filter the map by neighborhood, by cuisine specifically, or even by the health grade itself. The grades come directly from New York City Department of Health, and is updated on a daily basis. The DOH grades restaurants on the A,B,C letter scale which is based on violation points received. The fewer health violations the restaurant has, the lower the score with A being 0-13 points, B being 14-27 points, and C being 28 or more points. Food for Thought goes a step further than just showing you the health grades by actually letting you see what the health violations were that lead to that restaurant’s grade, a very important feature:
“Food for Thought highlights critical violations, which are violations that the DOH deems more likely to contribute to foodborne illness.”
According to the DOH, violations fall into three categories:
A public health hazard, such as failing to keep food at the right temperature, triggers a minimum of 7 points. If the violation can’t be corrected before the inspection ends, the Health Department may close the restaurant until it’s fixed.
A critical violation, for example, serving raw food such as a salad without properly washing it first, carries a minimum of 5 points.
A general violation, such as not properly sanitizing cooking utensils, receives at least 2 points.
Even with a Grade A, some restuarants still have critical violations, so it’s worth taking a look at this before you head out to your favorite neighborhood spot. Here’s the link to the map.
featured image source: Yelp / Bubo