04H — Food adulterated, contaminated or cross-contaminated
This covers food that is spoiled, contaminated, or cross-contaminated — including raw meat juices dripping onto food that will not be cooked again, or food sitting next to a chemical. The danger is that germs or chemicals get into food nobody will cook to kill them. The inspector scans every cooler shelf top to bottom and checks that raw proteins sit below ready-to-eat food. Cross-contamination during a busy shift — from a shared board or unwashed hands between proteins — is a top reason restaurants get cited here.
What the inspector looks for
Open the walk-in and reach-ins and look for raw chicken, beef, or fish stored above or dripping onto cooked food or produce, food touching cleaning chemicals, and anything spoiled, slimy, or off-smelling. Raw juices over ready-to-eat food fails.
Points & grade impact
Cited at 7 points — 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 by number of items across condition I-IV; uncorrected PHH → 28. NYC adds every cited violation’s points into one inspection score: 0–13 = A, 14–27 = B, 28+ = C.
| Condition level | Points |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | 7 |
| Level 2 | 8 |
| Level 3 | 9 |
| Level 4 | 10 |
How to fix it
Discard the adulterated, contaminated or cross-contaminated food; clean and sanitize affected surfaces.
How to prevent it
Store raw proteins below ready-to-eat foods; wash, rinse and sanitize boards and tools between raw and ready-to-eat use; keep food covered and away from toxic materials.
- ✓Store raw proteins below ready-to-eat food, bottom to top: poultry on the bottom, then ground meats, then pork, then other meats and fish, with cooked food and produce on top.
- ✓Use a separate, color-coded cutting board for each job and wash, rinse, and sanitize boards and knives when you switch from raw to ready-to-eat.
- ✓Keep all food covered and never store it next to or under cleaning chemicals.
- ✓Throw out anything spoiled or off-smelling, or that touched a raw-meat surface that was not cleaned; clean and sanitize that surface before reusing it.
Reference: Health Code §81.07(a)
Will your kitchen get an A?
Run a free 5-minute self-audit across all 73 NYC violation codes and see your projected letter grade — before the inspector does.
Run a free self-audit