The NYC Department of Health is proposing a rule change that requires all restaurants to freeze raw fish and near-raw fish during storage. The DOH recently held a hearing about this new regulation altering how sushi restaurants, ceviche restaurants and many other restaurants do business. It would force these restaurants to buy new freezers and change the operations and food preparation methods they use. The DOH’s rationale is to prevent the ingestion of parasites and to be in accordance with new federal regulations.
NYC is a restaurant mecca with over 10,000 restaurants, but there have been major skirmishes between the NYC Department of Health and NYC restaurants. Not only did the original implementation of the Health Inspection Grading system cause bad blood between the city government and restaurants, but the Mayor’s Office a few years back tried to forbid large sugared beverages from being sold in restaurants. Restaurants prevailed in court because the rule was unreasonable and unfair. It did not stop the selling of bottled sugary drinks.
Other changes have been proposed that may make running a NYC restaurant harder, from the requirement of a Health inspection before opening to new sanitation procedures to different packaging requirements of homemade packaged juice products.