A new report from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene shows a 14 percent reduction in Salmonella infections in 2011, the first full year of a new food safety inspection program that gives letter grades to New York’s 24,000 restaurants.
The government report attributes the sharp down swing to the combination of new letter grades and more frequent inspections at restaurants posing the greatest risk of foodborne illness. The number of confirmed cases of Salmonella infections as reported by law to the state and city health departments fell by 175 cases in 2011, a 14 percent decline from the previous year.
The report disclosed the rates of Salmonella per 100,000 residents for New York City, New York State, New Jersey and Connecticut from 2007 through 2011. New Jersey’s rate of Salmonella infections increased from 2010 to 2011, while New York State and Connecticut experienced only mild reductions.
New York City’s rate of slightly less than 14 Salmonella infections per 100,000 residents in 2011 was the lowest it’s been for at least 20 years, according to the report. The infection rates used in the report are universal and not specific to restaurants, but the authors noted that the annual number of infections caused by Salmonella bacteria is a common and useful indicator of trends in food-related illnesses.
In New York City, people eat at restaurants nearly a billion times a year. The report estimates that more than 6,000 New Yorkers are hospitalized and 20,000 visit emergency rooms each year because of foodborne illnesses. Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas A. Farley said the report shows that the new inspection program is working.
“Restaurants’ food safety practices are improving. And the decline in food-related disease is certainly very encouraging,” Farley said.
