GRADE PENDING PRESS is a NYC-based research and advocacy space for the people who feed us and those who inspect them. Notoriously at odds, restaurants and public health officials will need to work together to build a better way forward for all of us. To do this, they’ll need our support. We’ll need to restore the role of the NYC Department of Health as a force for prevention rather than revenue collection after mistakes are made.

Step 1: Remember why we’re at odds. After all these years, do we even know why we’re fighting? [Read our brief history of the DOH here.]

Step 2: Fund public health, lower fines. Public Health sets the course for those who treat us directly (our doctors and nurses) and the way we’re able to operate in the private sector, yet its invisible successes have been greatly underfunded for decades. Only when something goes wrong do we wonder why. Public Health shouldn’t have to hope for grant money or rely on its second job as a watchdog to make ends meet. [Read about Intro. 2233, the bill to end punitive fines.]

Step 3: Open communication, establish clear guidelines. We need a united and realistic approach for the path forward.

Step 4: Create space for education and compliance, rather than reliance on funds from fines. This tired game pits those who feed us against those inspecting them, and makes it possible to buy an A.

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HOW WE GOT HERE

I’ve been a food operator and writer in New York for the last decade. I’ve sold seafood, bread, and cheese to restaurants, and most recently, event space in a hotel where people used to gather. In the winter of 2017, a very special meal was taken from me, so I started writing a book about the NYC DOHMH, a cookbook of recipes that wouldn’t pass inspection. In March 2020, when it seemed like history was about to repeat, I knew the project needed pause. Our estranged relationship with public health was now on full display as restaurants struggled to find new footing with limited guidelines during a pandemic not unlike one we’d seen a century before.

If I’ve learned anything from the past three years, it’s that questions lead to better questions. The city’s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. A decade ago, with a tight budget on its hands following the recession of 2009, the city instituted letter grades that would bring about higher fines and more frequent inspections. By 2012, the DOHMH reached a peak annual revenue of $53.6M. Where we fail to support the public sector, the private sector suffers, and boy does it. The short (sobering) answer then is this: The enemy lies not in public health’s inefficiencies but in the role we allow it to have.

I’ve spent the last three years talking with cooks, pre- and post-letter grade cooks, here in New York and around the world — to see how the other half are inspected, but more importantly, to see how a society determines what is safe or worth risk. I’ve also spoken with experts in public health, molecular biologists, compliance consultants, former inspectors, and I’m sure I’ll hear from many of you.

To get started, here’s a helpful FAQ.