Yates Food Vendor Questions Go to Geneva

Yates County has a practical routing detail for food vendors and restaurant questions: the lead environmental health office is not in Penn Yan. Yates Public Health works with the New York State Department of Health Geneva District Office, and that district office is named as the lead agency for environmental health concerns.

That office handles more than one kind of question. The county list includes inspections of restaurants, hotels, motels, and fairgrounds; regulation of summer camps, public pools, public beaches, and public water supplies; review of water-system applications; collaboration during food and waterborne illness outbreaks; and permits for food vendors.

For a booth, fairground food setup, restaurant safety concern, public pool, camp kitchen, or water-system question, write down the Geneva District Office before calling around. The contact block is New York State Department of Health, 624 PreEmption Road, Geneva, NY 14456, 315-789-3030.

Yates County also separates some nearby issues. Rental or apartment-building concerns go to the town or village code enforcement officer. Supermarkets and grocery stores go to the state Department of Agriculture. Spills or chemical pollution go to DEC. That split can save a small-town caller from asking the right question at the wrong desk.