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"  Celebrity chef and restauranteur Mario Batali is not happy about New York City&amp;#039;s health inspectors. Despite receiving &amp;quot;A&amp;quot; grades for all of his restaurants, employees have said The Chew host is installing a secret alarm system to warn the kitchen staff the next time a health inspector drops by unannounced. According to the New York Post, the minute an inspector enters the restaurant the hostess will hit a button triggering a loud buzzer to ring in the kitchen. An employee of Batali&amp;#039;s restaurant group told the newspaper they were instructed to then dump any meals they were preparing and leave the kitchen abruptly. Apparently, this is a technique many cooks practice to avoid having foods register wrong temperatures and callouts for improper sanitary conditions. Andrew Moesel of the New York State Restaurant Association explained to the New York Post, &amp;quot;The Department of Health has put people in a position where they essentially have to shut their restaurants down in order to comply with health inspections. Why take the chance that one steak is not holding at the right temperature and risk a fine? It&amp;#039;s easier just to throw it away \u2014 and there&amp;#039;s no rule against that.&amp;quot; More From Delish: Mario Batali to Settle Restaurant Lawsuit for $5.25 Million While Batali could not be reached for comment, partner Joe Bastianich was unaware of any alarms being installed and had this to say about the alert system: &amp;quot;You don&amp;#039;t have to throw away food. The rules are not that idiotic,&amp;quot; Bastianich said. But employees who spoke to the New York Post said they were told the alarms are going to be installed in all of Batali&amp;#039;s eateries \u2014 Babbo, Casa Mono, Bar Jamon, Del Posto, Lupa Osteria Romana, Esca, Otto Enoteca, and the mammoth Italian food emporium Eataly, which houses several restaurants. In the past, the anonymous tipster explained, Batali would fire the manager of a restaurants if it received less than an &amp;quot;A&amp;quot; grade from health inspectors. More From Delish: Kebab Shop Owner Sent to Prison for &amp;quot;Heinous&amp;quot; Health Code Violations The New York City Health Department moved to the letter grade system in 2010. For initial inspections, restaurants can receive an A, B, or C; there are two chances to earn an A in each inspection cycle. According to the Department of Health&amp;#039;s website, if on the first try the restaurant does not receive an A grade, they are scored but ungraded until the second time the inspector arrives, usually within a month, at which point the re-inspection is graded. Restaurants can receive 2 points off for not properly sanitizing cooking utensils. Failing to keep food at the right temperature can cost 7 points. Not washing lettuce would rack up 5 points. The department inspects roughly 24,000 restaurants per year. In order to receive an &amp;quot;A,&amp;quot; restaurants must receive less than 13 violations. All restaurants must post their grades at entrances. Have you avoided a restaurant because of its letter grade? Do you think it&amp;#039;s fair for restaurants to install alarms warning cooks that the health inspector has arrived?  Find more great food content on Delish: Search for the perfect recipe from our homepage Find out the latest food news Get a recipe book to save your favorite dishes Sign up for our free newsletters Check us out on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.delish.com/restaurants/news/a39813/mario-batali-installs-alarms-to-warn-of-health-inspector-arrival/>