Thousands of people in Tompkins County eat out every day.
Whether it’s a quick stop for breakfast on the go, soup and salad for lunch, or a date at a fancy restaurant, they take it for granted that the food they’re buying is safe and will not be processed. they are sick.
It is not just blind faith.
Customers can feel safe thanks to a team of inspectors from the Ministry of Health who visit each location to ensure that food is being prepared in a clean environment and that health and safety regulations are being followed.
Public records inspection reports, and an online database at data.ithacajournal.com/restaurant-inspections/ contain inspection results in Tompkins County and across New York state. Readers can see when the site was last inspected and get a summary of the violations found by the inspectors.
Each report is a snapshot in time, showing observations from a single day when the researchers were in the restaurant.
Problems found at one time may have been solved, and a clean slate in one report does not mean that problems cannot arise later.
This article originally appeared on the Ithaca Journal: Dining out in Tompkins County: Check out restaurant reviews.