Saratoga County inspectors wrote at least one critical, or “red,” violation at 346 of 973 routine restaurant inspections (35.6%) between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026, well above the 27.1% rate for New York outside New York City. It was the county’s first full year in charge: the Saratoga County Department of Health took over restaurant permits and inspections from the State Department of Health in 2025, and the state’s open data shows Saratoga inspections only from August 2023 on.
These are our counts from the state dataset Food Service Establishment Inspections: Beginning 2005 (rows updated October 22, 2026, inspections through October 16). Instead of a grade or score, each Saratoga report lists red (critical) and blue (other) items.
| Saratoga County, Oct 2025 to Sep 2026 | Result |
|---|---|
| Routine restaurant inspections | 973 at 715 restaurants |
| At least one red violation | 346 (35.6%); state outside NYC 27.1% |
| Two or more red violations | 14.6%; state 10.6% |
| Food from an unapproved source or spoiled (1H) | 12.0%; state 3.6% |
| No violation of any kind | 18.7%; state 24.2% |
| Any inspection within 60 days of a red | 11 of 346 (3.2%) |
| Restaurants with one routine inspection in the year | 478 of 715 |
What changed when Saratoga County took over restaurant inspections in 2025
State law requires counties with more than 250,000 residents to run a full public health department, and Saratoga County was nearing that size. The county began building one in 2021. Starting in 2025, restaurants and mobile food vendors received county permits in place of their State Department of Health permits, the Daily Gazette reported, and by April 2025 the department had taken over all mandated environmental health programs, restaurant inspections included, according to WAMC.
The handover shows in the state data. Facilities with a Saratoga County inspection on record rose from 54 in 2024 to 820 in 2025, and the dataset holds no Saratoga County inspection of any kind dated before August 3, 2023. If you need a restaurant’s inspections from the years the state’s Glens Falls District Office covered Saratoga, ask the State Department of Health through its FOIL Records Access Center, with the restaurant’s name, address and the years you want.
How to find a Saratoga County restaurant’s latest inspection
The county’s food service establishment page sends readers to the state’s Last Inspection list for current reports.
- On the state’s Food Service Establishment: Last Inspection list, filter County to SARATOGA.
- Look the restaurant up by name or street. Saratoga Springs is written SARATOGA SPGS. in the Municipality column.
- Check the three counts (critical violations, critical violations not corrected, noncritical violations) and read the Violations field for the items.
- Check the inspection date. Most Saratoga restaurants get one routine visit a year, so the latest report can be several months old.
Questions and complaints go to the Saratoga County Department of Health at (518) 584-7460, 6012 County Farm Road, Ballston Spa.
Food source and damaged cans: where Saratoga inspectors write more reds
Item 1H, food from an unapproved source, spoiled or adulterated on the premises, was the county’s most common red, written in 117 inspections. Damaged cans (item 1D: leaks, severe dents, rust or swelling) turned up at four times the state rate, 5.2% against 1.3%.
| Red item | Saratoga County | State outside NYC |
|---|---|---|
| 1H Food from an unapproved source, spoiled or adulterated | 12.0% | 3.6% |
| 5C Cold food left at room temperature | 9.2% | 7.0% |
| 2C Cooked food exposed to raw food | 6.7% | 4.0% |
| 1D Swollen, leaking or badly dented cans | 5.2% | 1.3% |
| 5A Cold food above 45°F | 4.7% | 3.6% |
| 5E Too little working refrigeration | 4.2% | 4.0% |
| 6A Hot food below 140°F | 4.0% | 3.0% |
Blue items run high as well. Item 10B (non-food-contact equipment) appeared in 43.1% of Saratoga inspections against 23.2% statewide, and 8A (food not protected during storage, preparation or service) in 38.3% against 26.5%. With blue items that common, only 18.7% of Saratoga reports list nothing. For what each red code covers, see our guide to New York State critical violation codes.
Red rates by town: Clifton Park at 42.2%, Moreau at 15.8%
| Town (state listing) | Inspections | Red rate | No violation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clifton Park | 147 | 42.2% | 11.6% |
| Milton | 79 | 41.8% | 12.7% |
| Malta | 74 | 39.2% | 16.2% |
| Saratoga Springs | 372 | 33.6% | 24.7% |
| Halfmoon | 69 | 30.4% | 17.4% |
| Wilton | 67 | 26.9% | 19.4% |
| Moreau | 38 | 15.8% | 34.2% |
The table lists towns with 35 or more inspections. Saratoga Springs accounts for 372 of them; the other six have 38 to 147 each, so treat small gaps between those towns loosely.
A red on the report usually stands until the next routine visit
Saratoga County returned to a restaurant within 60 days of a red 11 times out of 346. By October 16, 2026, 142 of the 346 had any later inspection on record, at a median of 177 days after the red. Reds were almost always marked corrected before the inspector left: one inspection all year ended with a red still open.
The next routine inspection after a red found another red 61.5% of the time (135 cases), against 40.0% after an inspection without one (155 cases). When you read a Saratoga row, check the inspection date before the count of reds.
Saratoga County’s food service page says food safety training certificates for workers will become required when New York adopts the FDA Food Code. Next door, Schenectady County requires one certified person at every food service establishment.
How we counted
We kept routine inspections (type “Inspection”) of permits described as Restaurant, Restaurant/Catering Operation, Tavern or Food Service Establishment, dated October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, one inspection per operation per date. A return visit is any later inspection of the same operation within 60 days; the next-inspection comparison uses the next routine inspection through October 16, 2026. The dataset lists active permits, so restaurants that closed drop out. Facility counts by year use all inspection types.
Our county-by-county comparison for New York outside New York City has every county’s rates side by side, and Albany County found reds in 17.7% of its inspections over the same months.
New York State Department of Health data and Saratoga County Department of Health pages checked October 25, 2026.