Public Health Role and Responsibility
The Bureau of Food Safety and Community Sanitation (BFSCS or the Bureau) is responsible for establishing policy and enforcing the New York City Health and Administrative Codes, the New York State Sanitary Code, and various Local Laws of the City of New York, for broad spectrum of environmental health concerns. It is comprised of two offices that house ten programs. In essence, it is a very successful primary prevention program that protects the public from: food borne illnesses wherever meals are served to the public; exposure to second hand smoke in public places; artificial trans fat in food served in food service establishments; injury or illness to children attending day camps; window falls for children residing in multiple family dwellings; and other possible hazards. Additionally, the bureau assures that certain establishments post calorie information on menus and menu boards in its efforts to curb obesity rates, so that diners may make informed decisions about what they are ordering.
The Bureau's biggest responsibility is assuring that all food service
establishments are properly permitted and operating safely. With over 26,000
food service establishments (FSE) in New York City, this is a substantial
undertaking. If you eat at a restaurant, diner, delicatessen, school cafeteria,
community center, mobile food vending cart or any other permitted facility or
establishment that serves meals to the public, the New York City (NYC)
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's (the Department's) Bureau of Food
Safety and Community Sanitation is providing regular and periodic inspections to
assure the safety of what you eat. Beyond enforcing regulations to which food
service establishment operations must adhere, Bureau inspectors spend a
considerable amount of time educating establishment operators on food safety
practices.
Among the programs of which the Department is the proudest are those that
protect the health of our most vulnerable citizens. The Bureau of Food Safety
and Community Sanitation runs programs designed to protect children from window
falls or unsafe camps, older New Yorkers who attend senior centers, immune
compromised citizens living in single room occupancy hotels and those that rely
on soup kitchens for meals.
Public Health Sanitarians (PHS or inspector) perform the majority of
inspections conducted by the Bureau of Food Safety and Community Sanitation.
PHSs are college graduates who have earned at least thirty credits in the
physical and biological sciences. Once hired by the Bureau, PHSs undergo at
least 12 weeks of rigorous training in every area of the Bureau's operation
before being assigned to one of its offices. They are cross-trained in all
relevant programmatic areas to maximize the Bureau's ability to deploy staff to
areas of greatest need. This policy allows for increased productivity and
decreasing response time to complaints. PHSs are proficient in many areas of
environmental health and not only enforce environmental regulations but also
educate establishment owners and supervisors on what they need to know to
operate safely.
The Bureau of Food Safety and Community Sanitation adheres to rigorous
corruption control procedures to ensure the integrity of its operation and the
fairness of the inspection. Because PHSs are cross-trained, they are
periodically reassigned to different programs and work in different areas of the
city, to reduce the risk of corruption. Inspectors never perform re-inspections
at establishments or facilities for which they performed the original inspection
and rarely inspect the same establishment twice.
