§ 81.51 Grading of Inspection Results and Posting of Grades by Certain Food Service Establishments.
RCNY § 81.51
(a)Grading. The Department shall establish and implement a system for grading and classifying inspection results for food service establishments using letters to identify and represent an establishment's degree of compliance with the provisions of this Code, the State Sanitary Code and other applicable laws that require such establishments to operate in a sanitary manner so as to protect public health. The letter "A" shall be the grade representing the highest degree of compliance with such laws. Subject to the provisions of this section, the Department shall provide each operating establishment that it inspects with a letter grade card indicating the establishment's inspection grade, except that no letter grade card shall be provided when the Department orders an establishment closed after an inspection.
(b)Posting. Upon receipt, and except as provided in subdivisions (c) and (e), an establishment shall conspicuously post a letter grade card so that it is visible to the general public and to patrons prior to entering the establishment. The letter grade card shall not be defaced, marred, camouflaged or hidden from public view.
(c)Issuance of grade card.
(1)"A" grades. For any establishment receiving an "A" grade, the Department shall provide the establishment with a letter grade card at the conclusion of the inspection where such grade is determined. The grade card shall be posted immediately.
(2)Other grades. For any food service establishment receiving a grade lower than an "A," the Department shall advise the establishment of its inspection grade and the findings upon which it was based. The Department shall conduct a subsequent inspection of the establishment no sooner than seven (7) days after the first inspection. At the conclusion of the second inspection, the Department shall provide the establishment with a letter grade card indicating the inspection grade that the establishment received on that inspection.
(d)Adjudications. After any notice of violation ("NOV") issued at an inspection at which a letter grade card was provided to a food service establishment is heard and determined by the Health Tribunal at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings ("OATH"), the Department shall re-grade the inspection results taking into account only the violations alleged in the NOV that were either admitted by the establishment or sustained by a hearing examiner. If re-grading changes the inspection grade, the Department shall issue the food service establishment a new letter grade card that the establishment shall immediately post instead of or in place of the letter grade card provided by the Department at the conclusion of the inspection resulting in the issuance of the NOV.
(e)When posting may be deferred.
(f)Scope and applicability. This section shall not apply to mobile food vending units, mobile food vending commissaries, temporary food service establishments, food service establishments operated in or by primary and secondary schools, hospital-operated cafeterias, correctional facilities, or charitable organizations, including soup kitchens or other prepared food distribution programs, nor to food service establishments operated by not for profit membership organizations for service to their members only.
(g)No effect on other enforcement. Nothing in this section shall affect the Department's authority to take any other action necessary to protect the public health or to enforce the provisions of this Code or any other law or rule applicable to operation of a food service establishment.
