Mayor Bloomberg announces decrease in foodborne illness and increase in restaurant revenue since letter grading began.

Salmonella Cases Fall 14% and Revenue at Restaurants Up 9.3% since Grading Began

The reported Salmonella infections, an important indicator of foodborne illness, fell 14% during letter grading’s first full year to the lowest level in the last 20 years. In addition, total restaurant sales in New York City increased 9.3 percent – $800 million – in the first nine months since grading began compared to the year before. New York City’s restaurants have made significant improvements in food sanitary practices with more than 72 percent of the City’s restaurants earning “A” grades, up from 65 percent a year ago. The increase in “A” grades reflects fewer violations of public health standards such as inadequate hand washing facilities, food not being held at cold or hot enough temperatures and having conditions conducive to pests, according to a report on the program’s progress released today. The Mayor also released results of a new survey conducted by Baruch College at the City University of New York revealing that 91 percent of New Yorkers approve of grading and 88 percent of those surveyed consider letter grades when dining. And now restaurant grades are more accessible than ever with “ABCEats NYC,” a new app that lets New Yorkers check a restaurant’s letter grade from any street corner throughout the City. The Mayor made the announcement at Zero Otto Nove in the Bronx.
 “With restaurants making improvements, diners across the city have many more ‘A’ grade restaurants to choose from,” said Deputy Mayor Gibbs. “New Yorkers are paying attention to grades in restaurant windows and restaurant operators are clearly paying attention to food safety practices and cleanliness. Restaurants are making the grade and early results show foodborne illness is declining.”
 “The Health Department’s new ABCEats NYC app puts more power in the hands of New Yorkers, enabling them to make informed restaurant decisions, quickly and easily,” said Rachel Sterne, Chief Digital Officer, Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. “Thanks to the GPS search, users benefit from fast, mobile access to inspection grades and detailed results. The Health Department is already a leader in digital engagement, and this is a great example of how technology can help New Yorkers take advantage of City services.”
Diners use the grades in their decision-making, as a new survey conducted by Baruch College at the City University of New York revealed, with 88 percent of those surveyed considering letter grades when dining out and 76 percent feeling more confident in a restaurant’s food safety if it has an “A” grade posted. The Baruch College poll also showed that 91 percent of New Yorkers approve of grading and 88 percent approve of the city’s approach of more frequent inspections for “B” and “C” graded spots than for restaurants earning “A”s. The survey consisted of a random sample of 511 New York City adults who were contacted by telephone from Jan. 31 through Feb. 5, 2012.
Beginning today, New Yorkers can check a restaurant’s letter grade from any street corner throughout the City using ABCEats NYC, a free iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch application that offers easy access to restaurant inspection grades and detailed inspection reports for each of the City's 24,000 restaurants. New Yorkers can find a restaurant’s latest inspection results by entering the name of a restaurant, searching by borough, or using their current location to find restaurants with “A,” “B,” “C,” or Grade Pending grades in close proximity. Global positioning system (GPS) technology on iPhones works with the City’s letter grading database to show letter grades of nearby restaurants. Information is updated daily.
To download the free ABCEats NYC application, those with Apple mobile phones or devices can search for ‘NYC Restaurant Grading’ in the iPhone App Store on their device. The app is available for iPhone and iPod users and will be available for Android users by this summer. For more information on the 18-month report on restaurant grading please search “Restaurant Grading at 18 Months” on NYC.gov.

http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.c0935b9a57bb4ef3daf2f1c701c789a0/index.jsp?pageID=mayor_press_release&catID=1194&doc_name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fom%2Fhtml%2F2012a%2Fpr076-12.html&cc=unused1978&rc=1194&ndi=1