§47.61(a): Food protection
Required food protection procedures were not followed, including that the holder of a food protection certificate was not on site during food preparation.
| Health Code section | §47.61(a) |
| Type | Practice |
| How DOHMH classifies it | Serious (100% of its citations) |
| Cited in our records | 157 times at 133 NYC centers |
| Marked open right now | 9 |
The city's wording
Required food protection procedures were Not implemented at time of inspection. Holder of food protection certificate was Not on site during hours of food preparation activity.
This is the text DOHMH or the state attaches to the citation. It is a template, so it can sound harsher or vaguer than the finding behind it.
Worth asking the center
Who holds the food protection certificate, and are they there at every meal?
Reading it on a record
Look at whether the citation is marked open or corrected, how long ago it was cited, and whether the same section shows up on several inspections. One corrected citation is common. The same one on visit after visit is worth a direct question. Our guide to checking a daycare and methodology explain the rest.
Look up a center and read its record
Related sections
- §47.23(a): Supervision
- §47.27(b): Daily health check of children
- §47.23(f)(1): Teacher to child ratios
- §47.59(d): Fire drills
- §47.19(h)(3): Unsupervised contact before clearance
Counts are from the inspection records we hold, as of 2026-10-11. The plain-English note was written by NYC Daycare Check from the city's wording; the citation on each center's page is the record.