Dutchess County found at least one critical, or “red,” violation in 451 of 1,748 routine restaurant inspections (25.8%) between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026, close to the 27.1% rate for New York outside New York City. The rate ran from 35.8% in Fishkill and 35.3% in Beacon down to 11.7% in Hyde Park. When an inspection found a red, the county came back within 60 days 67% of the time, at a median of 7 days.
We counted these figures from the New York State Department of Health dataset Food Service Establishment Inspections: Beginning 2005 (rows updated October 22, 2026, inspections through October 16). Dutchess County gives no letter grade or score; each report is a list of red and blue items.
| Dutchess County, Oct 2025 to Sep 2026 | Result |
|---|---|
| Routine restaurant inspections | 1,748 at 958 restaurants |
| At least one red violation | 451 (25.8%); state outside NYC 27.1% |
| Two or more red violations | 9.3%; state 10.6% |
| Red still uncorrected when the inspector left | 5 inspections |
| No violation of any kind | 28.1%; state 24.2% |
| Return visit within 60 days of a red | 67.0% (median 7 days) |
Where to find a Dutchess County restaurant inspection report
The county Department of Behavioral & Community Health sends readers to the state for reports. Its Food Service Inspections page says permitted food services are inspected at least once a year, and again when a red violation is found or a food-safety complaint comes in.
- Open Food Service Establishment: Last Inspection, the state lookup the county links to.
- Set the County filter to DUTCHESS, then type the restaurant’s name or street. The row shows the latest inspection date, the red and blue counts, and the item codes.
- For earlier visits, filter the full inspection history on the same facility code.
- For permit questions, call the county’s Environmental Health Services Division at (845) 486-3404, listed on its permit requirements page.
Fishkill and Beacon versus Hyde Park: red violation rates by town
| Town or city | Routine inspections | With a red |
|---|---|---|
| Fishkill | 187 | 35.8% |
| Beacon | 136 | 35.3% |
| Pawling | 43 | 32.6% |
| Wappinger | 122 | 31.1% |
| LaGrange | 56 | 28.6% |
| East Fishkill | 119 | 24.4% |
| Dover | 37 | 24.3% |
| Beekman | 35 | 22.9% |
| Poughkeepsie (town and city) | 591 | 22.2% |
| Red Hook | 87 | 21.8% |
| Rhinebeck | 71 | 21.1% |
| Hyde Park | 94 | 11.7% |
Municipalities are as recorded on the permit; places with fewer than 35 inspections are left out. Poughkeepsie holds a third of the county’s restaurant inspections, so the countywide rate leans on it.
How often Dutchess County inspects the same restaurant
Dutchess inspects its restaurants more often than the once-a-year minimum suggests. Of the 958 restaurants with a routine inspection in the year, 489 (51%) had two and 145 (15%) had three or more; 324 had one. The county also logged 306 separate re-inspection records. In Albany County, by contrast, 70% of restaurants had a single routine inspection; see our Albany County results.
The quick return after a red is the other half of that pattern. After 302 of the 451 red inspections, the next visit came within 60 days, at a median of 7 days, and 80.1% of those visits found no red. Statewide figures for each county are in our New York State results by county.
The red and blue items Dutchess inspectors write most
| Item | What it covers | Dutchess | State outside NYC |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5C (red) | Food left at room temperature | 6.9% | 7.0% |
| 5E (red) | Not enough working refrigeration to hold food at 45°F | 6.3% | 4.0% |
| 2C (red) | Cooked food exposed to raw food | 3.5% | 4.0% |
| 6A (red) | Hot food below 140°F | 3.0% | 3.0% |
| 6B (red) | Not enough hot-holding equipment | 2.5% | 1.2% |
| 15A (blue) | Floors, walls or ceilings damaged or dirty | 24.1% | 26.2% |
| 11D (blue) | Outside of equipment not clean | 18.5% | 21.1% |
Dutchess’s above-state items involve equipment. Its 5E and 6B rates, both about having too little cold- or hot-holding equipment to keep food at safe temperatures, run 1.6 and 2 times the state rate, while room-temperature storage (5C) matches it. For the meaning of every item number, see our New York critical violation code guide.
Does a red violation predict the next Dutchess inspection?
Partly. When a red inspection was followed by another routine inspection, that one had a red 36.1% of the time, against 22.1% after a clean one, and the same red item came back in 19.7% of cases. The gap is smaller than the state’s (46.4% against 20.7%), a pattern that may relate to the county’s quick return visits. Restaurant permits had a red in 26.9% of 1,046 inspections and general food service permits in 24.2% of 666; taverns had 17.9% of 28.
Closures, fines and reinspection rules in other jurisdictions are covered in what happens if a restaurant fails a health inspection. Across the Hudson River, Ulster County and Orange County have their own results by town. Neighboring counties are also covered in our Westchester County and Rockland County results.
How we counted
Our count covers Dutchess routine inspections (type “Inspection”) dated October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, for permits described as Restaurant, Restaurant/Catering Operation, Tavern or Food Service Establishment, one per facility per date. Item rates are shares of all routine inspections. The dataset lists active facilities, so restaurants that closed during the year drop out. A return visit is any later inspection of the same facility within 60 days. To report a problem, use the state food complaint page.
New York State Department of Health data and Dutchess County pages checked October 25, 2026.