To find a New York City school cafeteria inspection, use NYC Health’s school-specific search. Enter the school name or ZIP code, match the street address, and open its inspection history. NYC public-school profiles offer another route, while the DOHMH open dataset helps you examine and download the individual finding rows.
Open the school entry, then the inspection date
The NYC Health search displays school names, addresses, and recent inspection dates. Select the matching school to expand Inspection History, then expand an Inspection Date row to see its findings. Check the Permittee alongside the date: this names the permit holder, which can differ from the school’s familiar name.
If violations were cited, the page provides their codes and descriptions; NYC Health says the most serious findings appear in red. Read the text as well as the color. A No violations entry describes that inspection, not conditions today. We checked this search-and-expand sequence on September 7, 2026 without using the result to rate the school.
An ordinary restaurant search is a poor stopping point for a school cafeteria. If it gives no useful match, move to the school-specific source before drawing a conclusion.
School profiles and open data have different limits
NYC Public Schools’ DOH Reports guidance directs families to Find a School, then the school profile’s Free Student Meals section. It says the displayed inspection information covers the past 36 months and is refreshed on the first of each month. The guidance also states that school buildings must be inspected at least twice per school year; that requirement is not proof that a particular school’s visible history is complete.
The DOHMH School Cafeteria Inspections (2020–Present) dataset covers permitted cafeterias in public, private, and parochial schools. Its current metadata lists weekly updates. It excludes cafeterias that ceased operating and violations dismissed during adjudication, so it is not a fixed archive of every school and finding since 2020.
| Route | What to use it for | Limit to keep in mind |
|---|---|---|
| NYC Health school search | Find a school by name or ZIP code and expand dated inspection details | Match the address and read each event; a recent-date label is not a current safety finding |
| NYC Public Schools profile | Open Free Student Meals for a NYC public school | Published guidance specifies a rolling 36-month window and monthly refresh |
| DOHMH open dataset | Match facility IDs, examine finding rows, or download data | Weekly update language; ceased operations and dismissed violations are excluded |
Find a School was blocked in our browsing environment during this check; that does not establish a general outage. The NYC Health search and open-data route both worked. If one portal fails for you, use the other official route and compare the same campus address.
Match the campus in the downloadable data
In the DOHMH dataset, select Data and use Search. Begin with the school name; compare Number, Street, Borough, and ZipCode before adopting a result. Similar school names, annexes, and shared buildings can otherwise produce a misleading match. The table is wide: scroll horizontally or use Columns to reach the fields you need.
Once you identify the cafeteria, search its exact Record ID to bring its rows together. Keep Permittee, PTET, and Site Type with the address so the record remains tied to the permitted food operation. The current field definitions identify Record ID as the establishment identifier; its API name is entityid.
Compare or sort InspectionDate before reading findings. The data-preview results we checked were not in newest-first order. For an export, use the dataset’s Export control and retain the identifiers and date columns when sorting your copy.
If no row matches, try a shorter school name or the street number, then recheck the borough, ZIP code, and campus. Ask the school administration to confirm which cafeteria and permit holder serve that building if identity remains unclear. An absent result does not establish that the school was never inspected. Our address-based inspection guide explains the broader facility-matching problem.
Group violation rows into one dated inspection
The current DOHMH data dictionary (XLSX) defines an inspection event by Record ID + inspection date. Each finding occupies its own row. For example, three different violation-code rows with the same Record ID and InspectionDate represent one inspection event with three cited items. Counting rows would overcount the visits represented in that extract.
| Field | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| InspectionDate | When the finding on that row was cited |
| LastInspection | The establishment’s latest inspection date, which can be later than the finding row |
| Level | The category of violation; a C here means a critical violation, not a restaurant letter grade |
| Code and ViolationDescription | The individual cited item; blank violation information represents an inspection with no cited violations |
A later LastInspection date does not by itself show that an earlier violation was corrected. Open the later event and read what it actually records. The inspected dataset has no score, restaurant letter-grade, correction-action, closure, or reopening column. Keep those questions separate and request the relevant official record when the displayed fields cannot answer them.
Count only events represented in the current extract, and keep rows with missing dates unresolved. The dictionary warns against year-to-year historical comparisons because later extracts remove cafeterias that ceased operating and violations dismissed during adjudication. The inspection report guide explains how to keep facility identity, findings, and later actions separate.
Save the campus address, Record ID, InspectionDate, code, and description before asking the school about follow-up. A precise dated question is more useful than a school ranking. These records are not a guarantee of current cafeteria safety. They cannot establish that an old condition continues or that anyone became ill. Official routes, fields, and disclosure limits were checked September 7, 2026, New York time.