About the Inspection Process
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The Bureau of Food and Recreation issues over one thousand permits to various food service establishments in Rockland County. Routine, unannounced inspections are made of each facility at least once a year, but a full service establishment that serves a variety of food items will be inspected more frequently. For example, a concession stand that serves popcorn and nachos would not be visited as often as a diner or a restaurant. If the routine inspection is not satisfactory, the manager is given a time frame for compliance and a re-inspection is made within that period of time. Additional inspections are conducted at an establishment when a patron registers a complaint regarding sanitary conditions or suspected illness.

You can view the most current inspection reports online for all Rockland County food establishments that have been issued a permit to operate under the NYS Department of Health Sanitary Code. Our online reports indicate whether the results are from a routine inspection, a re-inspection, or a pre-operative inspection (for newly opened establishments).

Only red “critical” violations are listed on this website. Red Violations are either corrected at the time of the inspection or within 24 hours.  Red "critical" violations relate directly to factors that could lead to food-borne illness. These violations generally involve the food source and condition, food cooking and storage temperatures, sanitary practices of food workers, water and sewage, pest control and the use of toxic materials.

Blue (non-critical) violations do not directly cause food-borne illness, but could negatively affect the operation of the restaurant. They relate to the design and maintenance of the establishment as well as cleanliness. A record of blue violations is maintained in the restaurant file at the Rockland County Health Department.  These records are available through the FOIL process.

Our online database is updated weekly.  Occasionally, remediation may not appear until the following week. This is due to the timing of the weekly update of our website.

Inspections are a “snapshot” in time and are not always reflective of the day-to-day operations and overall condition of an establishment. Therefore, we post a history of each establishment's inspections since October 2005. If you need information about an inspection conducted prior to October 2005 or want additional information about blue violations, contact the Rockland County Health Department FOIL Officer at (845) 364-2608.

Click here to read the New York State Sanitary Code (Title 10, Part 14)