Latest release · September 2026 · published October 20, 2026

How safe was America’s food last month?

Red Plate Index publishes a monthly scorecard built from public restaurant inspection and food recall records. It is dated, sourced and free to cite.

90.4%of NYC initial-cycle restaurant inspections cited at least one critical violationn=1,504 · +0.3 pts vs August
24.6%of completed Chicago food inspections ended in a failn=991 · +3.1 pts vs August
104FDA food product recall records reported, from 48 recall events59 Class I · August: 91
Salmonellawas the top recall cause: 46 product records in 11 eventsUndeclared allergens: 19 events
Read the September 2026 releaseDownload CSV
4,038 inspections·104 recall records·3 public sources·0 made-up numbers

This month in four lines

  1. In New York City, 1,360 of 1,504 initial-cycle inspections (90.4%) cited at least one critical violation, compared with 90.1% in August 2026. The median initial score was 13 points (lower is better), and the Health Department ordered 87 closures.
  2. The most-cited NYC violation was code 10F (non-food contact surface or equipment made of unacceptable material), found in 53.5% of initial inspections. Pest-related code 08A appeared in 36.4%.
  3. In Chicago, 244 of 991 completed inspections failed (24.6%), up from 21.5% in August 2026. Complaint-driven inspections failed 50.4% of the time (n=141), compared with 24.5% for routine canvass inspections (n=335).
  4. FDA enforcement reports dated September 2026 list 104 food product recall records from 48 events. Salmonella accounted for 46 records; undeclared allergens accounted for the most events (19).

Full tables and charts →

What we track

Restaurant inspections

New York City (NYC DOHMH) and Chicago (CDPH) inspection results from each city’s open data portal. We report critical violation rates, fail rates, median scores and the most-cited violation codes, broken down by borough, cuisine, facility type and inspection type.

Food recalls

FDA food enforcement reports from openFDA. We count product records and distinct recall events and group them by cause (Salmonella, Listeria, undeclared allergens and more) and by food category, with a year-over-year comparison.

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Data API, coming soon

A planned pay-per-call API for inspection outcomes, recall lookups and monthly series. Read the draft docs.

FAQ

What is the Red Plate Index?
A monthly scorecard of US food safety built from public records: NYC and Chicago restaurant inspection results and FDA food recall enforcement reports. Each release is dated and comes with a CSV.
How often is it updated?
Once a month, for the last full calendar month. The data pipeline also refreshes the source data daily so that each release uses the latest published records.
Can I compare New York and Chicago?
No. The two cities use different inspection systems, codes and outcomes. Each city is only compared with its own earlier months.
Can I use the numbers in an article?
Yes. Our derived statistics are published under CC BY 4.0. Please credit Red Plate Index and link to the release page. The underlying government data keeps its own terms, which are listed on the methods page.
Is this an official government site?
No. Red Plate Index is independent and is not endorsed by the FDA, New York City or the City of Chicago.