New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 9 - EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT › Subtitle A - Governor's Office › Chapter I - Executive Orders › Part 1 - Executive Orders (Nelson A. Rockefeller) › Section 1.3 - Executive Order No. 3: Relating to sanitation inspections of restaurants by State agencies. [*]

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
The Reorganization Study, conducted by the Secretary to the
					 Governor and his staff, has ascertained that sanitation inspections of
					 restaurants and other food service establishments are now being conducted by
					 three State departments-Health, Agriculture and Markets, and Labor.
The Department of Health has general authority for
					 restaurant sanitation to protect the public from conditions that might spread
					 disease through food preparation and service. Inspections to assure restaurant
					 sanitation are usually conducted by employees of local health agencies, with
					 the State Department of Health paying part of the costs and providing technical
					 supervision.
The State Department of Agriculture and Markets conducts
					 restaurant sanitation inspections to protect the public against adulterated or
					 substitute food products.
The Department of Labor inspects restaurants to assure that
					 adequate and reasonable protection is provided for the lives, health and safety
					 of employees and the public.
Each of these three departments has a reasonable and proper
					 interest in the management and operation of restaurants. The fact remains,
					 however, that their sanitation inspections of restaurants routinely duplicate
					 one another. Clearly a situation in which three separate governmental agencies
					 perform the same routine function in the same business establishment is neither
					 economically nor managerially justifiable.
Therefore, in continuance of my intention to eliminate
					 duplication in State procedures and activities, it is directed that the
					 following rearrangement of activities be instituted:
(1) Public health personnel will continue to
				  conduct periodic sanitation inspections of restaurants and similar
				  establishments. The Commissioner of Health will certify to the Commissioner of
				  Agriculture and Markets those geographic areas in which public health personnel
				  conduct regular sanitation inspections.
(2) The Department of Agriculture and Markets
				  will continue to make sanitation inspections only in places where public health
				  personnel are not regularly conducting such inspections.
(3) The Department of Labor will discontinue
				  making sanitation inspections of restaurants. (This will in no way, however,
				  change the Department's responsibilities for regulating and enforcing proper
				  labor standards.)
To assure that sanitation inspections of restaurants are
					 governed by a uniform set of standards, it is further directed that the rules
					 and regulations of the Departments of Health, Agriculture and Markets, and
					 Labor, as they apply to restaurant sanitation and the conduct of sanitation
					 inspections, shall be brought into conformity with one another and embodied in
					 the State Sanitary Code. For the purpose of achieving uniformity, the
					 applicable provisions of the Sanitary Code shall then be adopted by the
					 Department of Agriculture and Markets and the Department of Labor.
In order to protect the best interests of the public, of
					 restaurant proprietors, and of employees, alike, and to assure that required
					 functions are performed most efficiently, it is desirable that, along with the
					 rearrangement of activities, there be developed cooperative interdepartmental
					 working relationships. I have, therefore, instructed the heads of the
					 Departments of Health, Agriculture and Markets, and Labor to establish mutually
					 acceptable procedures for the exchange of information obtained by personnel
					 under their direction in the course of routine restaurant inspection.
Specifically, this would mean that:
(1) Representatives of the Department of
				  Agriculture and Markets making inspections of restaurants for food adulteration
				  and use of substitute food products would note and report, for the use of the
				  Department of Health, any conditions observed that may be inconsistent with the
				  sanitary regulations.
(2) Public
				  health personnel observing evidence of the use of food substitutes or the
				  adulteration of foods, while making routine sanitation inspections, would note
				  and report such instances for the use of the Department of Agriculture and
				  Markets.
This system would eliminate unnecessary duplication and
					 overlap in restaurant sanitation inspections and provide for a free exchange of
					 information. As a result, the inspectional staffs would concentrate on matters
					 in which they have a primary and appropriate interest and they would achieve
					 better coverage of their areas of inspection. It will also help eliminate
					 confusion and misunderstanding on the part of restaurant proprietors and
					 employees.
Signed: Nelson A. Rockefeller
Dated: July 11, 1960
Footnotes
* [Supplemented by Executive
					 Order No. 73,
infra
.]