foodplight.nycitynewsservice.comFOOD PLIGHT | Cafeteria Inspections Reveal Critical Health Violations at New York City Schools.

Select Page By Pauliina Siniauer and Mallory Moench Additional reporting by Rahima Nasa and Jeremy Ibarra At Public School 398 in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, elementary school students were offered a lunch of beef patties, zucchini and pears on March 20. A city health inspector discovered some unappetizing conditions in the cafeteria and kitchen that day: live roaches and close to 600 fresh mice droppings – all conditions primed to cause illness. At Middle School 137 in Ozone Park, Queens, where the kitchen prepares more than 700 meals for five area schools, an inspector found about 1,500 flies on July 12. The Health Department gave the school two days to clean up and put all food in rat-proof containers. While there was some improvement when an inspector returned July 17, flies still loomed and the kitchen remained dirty. The school got another two days to fix the violations. Only on the third try were the problems rectified. At P.S. 132 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a school nurse reported in September that five second-graders were sickened after eating a cafeteria lunch of peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches, cheese sandwiches and milk. School officials said there was no evidence the illnesses were caused by school food and called the nurse overzealous.” But a health inspector who responded several days later found dirty equipment and poor protection for how food was laid out – potential breeding grounds for foodborne illnesses. These schools are far from alone in cafeteria woes. A NYCity News Service investigation, based on inspection data obtained from the New York City Health Department under New York’s freedom of information law, found: Nearly 700 school cafeterias – about half of the approximately 1,400 inspected by health officials in 2017 – received at least one critical violation, which indicates the kinds of problems that could lead to foodborne illnesses. City health inspectors discovered an average of two violations per school cafeteria visit. While some schools had no violations, as Health Department officials pointed out, other racked up more, driving up the average. One of every five of the citations is a critical violation – something that could lead to foodborne illnesses. More than half of the 1,150 critical violations reported in 2017 show evidence of mice, rats, roaches and other insects in food preparation and consumption areas, along with flies. The four dozen schools with the worst inspections records in 2017 largely serve some of the city’s poorest students. The students who go to these schools tend to be disproportionately minority group members, city records show. Use use the dropdown menu below the map for a quick check on schools. Or use the map filters to see which schools were hit with critical health code violations in 2017. ( To view the data from all the schools, click here. ) In a statement, Department of Health officials said: We are committed to working with the Department of Education to ensure all students are provided with a safe and clean environment in our city’s schools. We will continue to hold school cafeterias to rigorous safety standards.” The statement noted that in 2016, 97 percent of schools passed inspection and any violations were immediately addressed.” Yet under the point system used by Health Department inspectors, schools could still pass after being given multiple violations. A Department of Education spokeswoman pointed to the Health Department statement and noted that inspection records are now online . Still, those records are not as extensive as the ones obtained by the NYCity News Service. STUDENTS CAN’T STOMACH CONDITIONS More than two dozen students interviewed at some of the schools hit with the most violations in 2017 said they avoided eating in cafeterias because of bad quality food or cleanliness concerns. Angel Rosario, 17, recalled becoming queasy after eating mozzarella sticks from the school cafeteria in the Urban Assembly Bronx Academy of Letters in Mott Haven. He said his family took him to a doctor, who diagnosed food poisoning. Rosario said he did not report his illness to the school – he didn’t think his experience was unusual. Now he rarely eats in the cafeteria. I used to just sit there and wait till lunch is over,” said Rosario, now a senior. Sometimes I didn’t eat, I waited till I got home. It made my stomach hurt, and made me go home cranky.” Angel Rosario, a senior who’s been at the school since the 6th grade https://cdn.nycitynewsservice.com/blogs.dir/1027/files/2017/12/AngelRosario_SchoolFood.mp3 Samara Henry, a senior at the same school, said she stopped eating at the cafeteria after encountering what she believed to be undercooked chicken about two years ago. The school lunch slogan is ‘feed your mind,’ and I feel like if anything, we’re not feeding our minds,” she said. It’s a bunch of crap that is actually going into our system which makes us sick at the end of the day.” In its most recent inspection, conducted July 10, the Health Department found five critical violations at the school cafeteria – including evidence of mice, flying insects and workers wearing dirty clothes. VIDEO: Student Chronicles Cafeteria Complaints HELP WANTED: MORE CAFETERIA WORKERS Shaun D. Francois, President of Local 372, the union representing school food workers, cited a dire need for more staffers at aging school cafeterias. We’re already overburdened. We don’t have enough manpower,” said Francois, who worked four years as a school food handler and until 2014 as a school food distributor at the main Long Island City warehouse. For mice droppings, because of staffing, they can’t clean because they’re busy running around serving kids.” Francois said kitchens were already understaffed before the city introduced its free lunch program for all students at the start of the 2017 school year. He met with School Food to state the union’s need for at least 300 workers based on the ratio of how many students need to be served. He said he worked with school officials to plan two hiring sessions with 2,000 prospective employees in the fall. But Francois said the positions have not all been filled, leaving staff stretched thin. Members are doing the best they can,” Francois said. They’re trying to hold it down.” A dead roach, next to a water fountain at the Urban Assembly Bronx Academy of Letters on November 21, 2017. FIFTEEN CAFETERIA INSPECTORS FOR 1.1 MILLION STUDENTS School cafeteria inspections are similar to the ones for restaurants, except there are no letter grades. No placards are posted by school cafeterias with an A, B, C or Grade Pending.” Instead, a numeric scale tracks the count and severity of violations. The higher the number, the worse the conditions. Inspectors are supposed to visit without warning and examine the kitchen. They look for evidence of rodents and insects. They check whether equipment can keep hot food hot enough, and cold food cool enough – the right temperatures are crucial to avoid the spread of bacteria. They ask workers questions and review food handling. If the results prove unsatisfactory, health inspectors may schedule a mandatory re-examination a few days later. More than a dozen city schools – including MS 137 in Ozone Park, where an inspector found 1,500 flies in July – faced that situation in 2017. Federal law requires local health inspectors across the country to inspect school cafeterias twice every school year. In 2017, about 1,400 city school cafeterias were inspected at least once. Some cafeterias serve several schools. The Health Department said the 15 inspectors assigned at any given time to school cafeterias are sufficient to do the job. City Council Member Ben Kallos called on the Department of Education to provide resources for enough facilities and staff so that there are zero violations. We should be the model.” UNCERTAINTY AMID CAUSES FOR CONCERN More than one in six people nationwide get sick from a foodborne illness every...