Millions of people eat at restaurants across New York every day, whether they're grabbing a breakfast sandwich on the way to work, meeting friends for lunch or enjoying a night out.
Most expect the food they order to be safe.
That confidence comes, in part, from routine inspections conducted by local health departments.
Inspectors visit restaurants and other food establishments to make sure food is prepared safely and that health and sanitation regulations are being followed.
Restaurant inspection reports are public
Restaurant inspection reports are public records. Our searchable database includes inspection results for restaurants and other food establishments across New York state.
Explore: Statewide database of restaurant inspections
Readers can search for a restaurant, see when it was
last inspected and review summaries of violations documented by health inspectors.
What inspection reports show
Each inspection report is a snapshot in time, reflecting conditions observed on the day inspectors visited the establishment.
Violations identified during an inspection are often corrected quickly, and a clean inspection report does not guarantee that problems won't arise in the future.
Likewise, violations found during a previous inspection do not necessarily mean the same conditions still exist.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: How safe is your favorite restaurant? Search New York inspection reports
