EHS-Net Partners - New York City

The New York City (NYC) Department of Health and Mental Hygiene/Fund for Public Health is an EHS-Net research partner. The New York City EHS-Net program is working on a food research project in FY 2010-2015.

Evaluation of Grade Posting

This project will evaluate the impact of NYC’s recent restaurant ‘grade posting’ system on restaurant food safety and foodborne illness. The system requires restaurants to post food safety inspection scores publicly in the form of letter grades.

Restaurant food safety will be measured by restaurant inspection scores. Foodborne illness will be measured by

• Hospital discharge data (from New York State’s Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System).
• Emergency room data on diarrheal illness (from NYC’s Syndromic Surveillance System).
• Consumer-reported data on food-related illness (from the NYC Community Health Survey).

The project will also use survey data to examine

• Restaurant operators’ opinions of the grading system and its impact on their business.
• Consumer understanding and use of the grades.