By Faaria Kherani
If you are grabbing a meal in Sunset Park or southern Park Slope, beware of cockroaches on the loose. A 2010 Roach Map released by The Great Urban Hack NYC shows that Brooklyn’s cockroaches are calling some neighborhoods home more than others.
According to the Roach Map, which is based on restaurant inspection results from the NYC Data Mine and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, evidence of cockroaches were found in almost 30 percent of the inspected restaurants in Sunset Park, the third highest number amongst Brooklyn neighborhoods.
The Health Department budgeted $3.2 million to implement a new grading system for restaurant inspections in July 2010. According to NYC Health, “Restaurants with B or C grades should improve their overall food safety practices, but the Health Department immediately closes restaurants with conditions that may be hazardous to public health.” Any scores higher than 28 fall into the C grade category.
Restaurant inspections carried out by the Health Department show that approximately 8.5 percent of restaurants in Sunset Park scored higher than 28 points, while only approximately 4.7 percent of restaurants had over 28 violation points on the Upper West Side.
Community Board 7 District Manager Jeremy Laufer says the issue could have less to do with the restaurants and more to do with sanitation in Sunset Park.
“We take a lot of garbage into our community,” Laufer says. Initiatives like a new municipal recycling facility and power plants produce large amounts of waste one block away from Fifth Avenue, where a large majority of restaurants are.
Language and cultural barriers also contribute to sanitation violations. One Chinese restaurant manager on Eighth Avenue, who asked to remain anonymous so as not to hurt her business, said she had no idea that her restaurant had violated any health standards. Her restaurant is filled with fresh, live seafood in large tanks that line the walls of the eating area.
“Really? No one told me, how can I fix the problem if no one told me?” she said, pulling a live fish out of a tank for a customer inside. Other Hispanic and Chinese restaurant owners also said that most of the time they do not understand what their violations were in English.
This is a common complaint, but the Health Department makes it clear that workshops in English, Spanish, Korean, Mandarin, and Cantonese, are provided to help restaurant owners understand the new system.
Laufer says inspectors should and do usually have cell phones to provide translations for owners. “In a diverse community such as ours, that is vitally important,” says Laufer.
The Health Department says restaurants receive multiple opportunities to lower their violation points through the re-inspection process, and that interpreters are available through the New York City Human Resources Administration.
But many restaurant owners are discontent with the new grading system altogether, especially Chinese immigrants living in Flushing and Sunset Park. According to the World Journal, Chinese restaurants find it difficult to serve traditional foods that do not comply with new food temperature regulations.
Sun Mary Bakery in Queens has always sold egg custard tart, a popular Chinese pastry. But because of new restaurant sanitation rules, the owners stopped selling it in July.
According to the Health Department, the new inspection grading system is needed to standardize sanitation records. A Chinese person eating a Chinese pastry will know exactly how it was made, but a non-Chinese person may be unaware of traditional Chinese cooking methods, and their body may be unused to the foods. Also, food preparation and temperature are closely related to the overall cleanliness of restaurants, says the Health Department.
Although inspection grading cards must be posted prominently in a restaurant, most of the time it is almost impossible for a customer to differentiate between a clean facility and a dirty one by looking at the place.
Nablus Sweets on Fifth Avenue scored 59 violation points during a health investigation on August 16, 2010. Passers-by would likely not question the cleanliness of the facility based on its cheery maroon sign, yellow English and Arabic letters, and treats in the window. But inspectors found filth flies associated with food, refuse, or sewage in food and/or non-food areas as well as live animals, other than the permitted fish in tanks or a service animal, in the facility. The owner was unavailable for comment.
The Health Department will usually conduct inspections continuously every 30 days until the violating restaurant scores under 28 points or until it is closed. In the meantime, these restaurants continue to stay open and serve unaware customers.
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