CDC 24/7 - Protecting People - New York City's Success
Making restaurants safer
What is the problem?
Foodborne illness is a common, costly—yet preventable—public health problem across the United States. The New York City (NYC) Tracking program estimated that foodborne illnesses in the city are responsible for
- about 7,000 hospital stays each year,
- about 20,000 emergency department visits each year, and
- thousands of cases of diarrhea every day.
Approximately half of all foodborne outbreaks reported to CDC can be linked to restaurants. In NYC, more than half of all foodborne outbreaks are restaurant related.
What did Tracking do?
NYC’s Tracking Program shared this information with the NYC Board of Health. The Board of Health used the data to revise the health code to require that all restaurants post letter grades of A, B, or C in public view. The letter grades show how well or poorly a restaurant was rated during sanitary inspections. The goal of this new rule is to provide diners with easy-to-read information about the safety of their food and to motivate restaurants to maintain good food-safety practices.
Improved public health
Now NYC diners can make informed decisions about which restaurants to choose. A survey conducted in July 2011, and repeated in February 2012, showed that 90% of all New Yorkers approve of grade posting and most of them consider grades when deciding where to eat. The inspection grading system was designed to encourage restaurants to improve their food-safety practices rapidly. If a restaurant does not receive an A on its initial inspection, the Health Department conducts a surprise second inspection about a month later. The tracking program evaluated this approach and found that restaurants greatly improved their food-safety practices between the first and second inspections. Preliminary reports also suggest that reported Salmonella cases in NYC are down.
Informing local laws to reduce health problems caused by air pollution
What is the problem?
Some older heating systems in New York City (NYC) burn low-grade oil called residual oil (also called fuel oil). Burning residual oil releases much more harmful small particles called particulate matter (PM2.5) into the air than other heating fuels. Exposure to PM2.5 can cause serious illnesses and deaths, especially from lung and heart diseases.
What did Tracking do?
NYC’s Tracking Program studied PM2.5 pollution and found that the highest levels were in parts of the city with the highest number of residual oil-burning boilers. The tracking program used methods developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to estimate the effects of PM2.5 exposure on the numbers of deaths, hospital stays, and emergency department visits in NYC. The tracking program showed that many hospital visits and deaths could be prevented by reducing the PM2.5 levels by phasing out residual heating-oil use in the city.
Improved public health
NYC leaders used the tracking program’s findings to support a local law that was enacted in 2010 and new regulations that were finalized in 2011 to begin reducing and ultimately phase out the use of residual oil in NYC by the year 2030. The tracking program estimated that, when fully implemented, this law will prevent about 200 deaths caused by PM2.5 exposure in NYC each year.
Supporting prevention of carbon monoxide poisonings
What is the problem?
Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is a serious but preventable environmental health threat. In 2004, New York City (NYC) enacted the Carbon Monoxide Alarm Law requiring building owners to provide CO alarms in all residential and many public buildings. CO alarms, like smoke alarms, have a short lifespan of a few years and need to be replaced when they expire. In November 2011, the Mayor’s Office and NY City Council proposed an amendment to the local law to address this issue and requested data related to CO poisoning from the NYC Health Department.
What did Tracking do?
NYC’s Tracking Program provided a report to the Mayor’s office detailing the CO poisoning and incident information from the NYC Tracking Network. The report showed that shortly after the 2004 law went into effect, the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) investigated five times more CO hazards than before because more of the residents had CO alarms to detect the hazards. The report included a neighborhood map showing the reported CO hazards that FDNY investigated; more CO hazards occurred in low-income areas than in other areas. The report also included a graph showing that when residents more frequently reported using back-up heat sources, such as kitchen stoves, overnight there were higher rates of CO incidents in the neighborhood.
Improved public health
The City Council passed the amendment to the NYC Carbon Monoxide Alarm Law in December 2011. The law continues to require that all new CO alarms comply with UL 2034, the Standard for Safety of Single and Multiple Station Carbon Monoxide Alarms, which requires audible alerts when the alarm expires. Under the amendment, building owners and home owners are responsible for quickly replacing expired CO alarms.