# NYC Food & Sanitation Inspections AI Agent Connect

> NYC Food & Sanitation Inspections MCP provides direct access to Department of Health and DSNY datasets. Your AI client can pull restaurant grades by CA#, search for rodent infestation reports, check school cafeteria violation codes, and locate city compost drop-off sites. It works without needing an API key, making it ready to use in Claude, Cursor, or Windsurf immediately.

## Overview
- **Category:** government-public-data
- **Price:** Free
- **Endpoint:** https://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_vg3mUwrsZxEUlPoSvWh8e7W1nRHZNN6cYVZ69k8p/ai-agent-connect
- **Tags:** new-york, nyc, restaurants, food-safety, inspections, rodents, composting

## Description

You can pull live sanitation and food safety data from New York City directly into your AI workflow. Instead of digging through government portals, you just ask your agent to find specific inspection results or grades. You can look up a restaurant's current health grade using its CA# or search for recent inspections by business name, borough, or date. If you need to track pest control issues, the MCP provides DSNY rodent inspection results and abatement records. You can also audit school cafeteria safety by searching for specific violation codes and descriptions. For those managing organic waste, it identifies local food scrap drop-off locations including their operating hours and months. This MCP turns messy public datasets into actionable information for your agent.

## Tools

### get_restaurant_grade
This tool retrieves the most recent inspection details for a specific restaurant using its CA#.

### list_food_scrap_dropoffs
Use this to find NYC composting locations by filtering for a specific borough or council district.

### search_cafeteria_inspections
This tool searches school cafeteria health records for specific violation codes and descriptions.

### search_restaurant_inspections
Search through NYC restaurant health inspections and grades using business names, boroughs, or date ranges.

### search_rodent_inspections
This tool pulls DSNY rodent infestation and abatement records based on borough, zip code, or street address.

## Prompt Examples

**Prompt:** 
```
What grade does this restaurant (CA# 50155931) have?
```

**Response:** 
```
get_restaurant_grade("50155931") returns the most recent inspection: name, address, current grade, score, type and date.
```

**Prompt:** 
```
Which Queens neighborhoods have the most rodent problems?
```

**Response:** 
```
search_rodent_inspections with borough "Queens" and result "Rodent Activity" over a date window shows the affected properties.
```

**Prompt:** 
```
Where can I drop off food scraps in Manhattan?
```

**Response:** 
```
list_food_scrap_dropoffs with borough "Manhattan" returns the compost drop-off sites with open months, operating days and hours.
```

## Capabilities

### Restaurant Grade Lookup
Your agent pulls the latest health scores and grades for specific NYC eateries.

### Sanitation Auditing
The AI checks school cafeteria violation codes and descriptions.

### Pest Activity Tracking
Your agent searches DSNY records for rodent inspections and abatements.

### Compost Site Mapping
The AI identifies food scrap drop-off locations and their schedules.

### Borough-wide Searches
Your agent filters inspection data by specific NYC boroughs or zip codes.

## Use Cases

### Restaurant Due Diligence
Check the current grade and recent inspection history of a potential business partner.

### Neighborhood Safety Analysis
Identify areas with high rodent activity by querying DSNY inspection records.

### School Compliance Checks
Review cafeteria inspection findings to ensure food safety standards are met.

### Waste Management Planning
Locate the nearest compost drop-off sites and check their operating hours.

## Benefits

- Eliminates the need to manage individual API keys for NYC Open Data.
- Provides direct access to DSNY and Department of Health datasets.
- Allows for granular searches using CA# or business names.
- Turns raw inspection codes into readable violation descriptions.

## How It Works

Connecting to this MCP gives your AI client immediate access to NYC sanitation data.

1. Connect your preferred MCP-compatible client to Vinkius.
2. Select the NYC Food & Sanitation Inspections MCP.
3. Ask your agent a question about restaurant grades, rodent reports, or compost sites.
4. The agent executes the specific tool to pull data from NYC Open Data.
5. Receive the formatted inspection or location data directly in your chat.

## Frequently Asked Questions

**Do I need an API key to use this?**
No. Vinkius hosts the connection, so you can use these tools without managing your own API keys.

**Which AI clients can I use with this MCP?**
You can use this with any MCP-compatible client, including Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and VS Code.

**Can I search for a restaurant by name?**
Yes. You can search for inspections using the business name, borough, or specific CA#.

**How recent is the inspection data?**
The data is pulled from the Department of Health and DSNY datasets provided by NYC Open Data.

**Can I find compost locations in my specific borough?**
Yes. The list_food_scrap_dropoffs tool allows you to filter locations by borough or council district.

**Do I need an API key?**
No. NYC Open Data serves all public datasets anonymously over its SODA API (data.cityofnewyork.us). This MCP defines no credentials and needs nothing configured.

**What does the CA# mean?**
The CA# (health certificate number) is the unique id of a restaurant establishment. Each inspection row belongs to one CA#, so you can follow a restaurant's full inspection history and its current grade.

**What do the grades mean?**
Grade A means the restaurant meets most requirements; B is a fair score with violations to correct; C signals serious violations; Z is assigned when an inspection cannot be scored yet (e.g. a new establishment).