Data
Who issues your food service permit, by New York county
The Department publishes its district offices in one table and its county list in a clickable map, and never puts the two side by side. So the simplest question a buyer has — who do I actually call about this restaurant — takes a surprising amount of work to answer. This is that join, done once.
On this page7 sections
Three different answers, depending on the county
The Department of Health's statement is short and it is the whole rule: "Permits are issued by the local health department responsible for the area where the food service establishment is located." Contact the local health department for more information [2] .
What that sentence hides is that "the local health department" means three different things in New York:
| If your county is… | The permitting authority is |
|---|---|
| One of the 20 in the table below | A NYSDOH district office. The state runs the environmental health programme directly |
| Any other county outside New York City | Run locally. NYSDOH's interactive map is the lookup for the current contact [3] |
| One of the five boroughs | New York City's own regime. See the NYC permit guide |
The 9 state district offices
These offices enforce the food, water and indoor air regulations "for the 21 counties/cities in New York State that do not deliver that service" [1] . If your target sits in one of these counties, this is the office to call.
| District | Counties served | Contact | Address |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canton | St. Lawrence | (315) 386-1040 cado@health.ny.gov | 58 Gouverneur Street, Canton 13617-3200 |
| Geneva | Ontario, Wayne, Yates | (315) 789-3030 gedo@health.ny.gov | 624 Pre Emption Road, Geneva 14456-1334 |
| Glens Falls | Warren, Washington | (518) 793-3893 gdfocal@health.ny.gov | 77 Mohican Street, Glens Falls 12801-4429 |
| Herkimer | Fulton, Herkimer, Montgomery | (315) 866-6879 nysdoh.herkimer@health.ny.gov | 5665 State Route 5, Herkimer 13350-9721 |
| Hornell | Schuyler, Steuben | (607) 324-8371 hodo@health.ny.gov | 107 Broadway, Room 105, Hornell 14843-0430 |
| Middletown | Sullivan | (845) 794-2045 modo@health.ny.gov | 90 Crystal Run Road, Middletown 10941 |
| Oneonta | Delaware, Greene, Otsego | (607) 432-3911 odo@health.ny.gov | 28 Hill Street, Suite 201, Oneonta 13820-9804 |
| Saranac Lake | Essex, Franklin, Hamilton | (518) 891-1800 saranaclake@health.ny.gov | 41 St. Bernard Street, Saranac Lake 12983-1839 |
| Watertown | Jefferson, Lewis | (315) 785-2277 wado@health.ny.gov | Dulles State Office Building, 317 Washington Street, Watertown 13601-3741 |
A note on the count, so you can trust the rest of the table. The Department describes this programme as covering "21 counties/cities", and the nine offices above name 20 counties between them. The wording is "counties/cities", so the remaining entry is most likely a city rather than a county — but we have not verified that at source, and we would rather say so than quietly round the number. The office-to-county mapping above is reproduced exactly as published.
Counties where the programme is run locally
These are the New York counties outside the five boroughs that do not appear in the district office table — 37 of them:
Albany, Allegany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Cayuga, Chautauqua, Chemung, Chenango, Clinton, Columbia, Cortland, Dutchess, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Madison, Monroe, Nassau, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Orange, Orleans, Oswego, Putnam, Rensselaer, Rockland, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Seneca, Suffolk, Tioga, Tompkins, Ulster, Westchester, Wyoming.
For any of these, start from NYSDOH's interactive contacts map [3] , which the Department maintains and we do not. We deliberately do not reproduce 37 sets of county contact details here: a stale phone number is worse than no phone number, and the Department's map is the version that stays current.
The Department also operates four regional offices — Capital, Central, Metropolitan, Western — above the district and county level [3] . For a permit question you want the district or county contact, not the region.
What Part 14 covers — and why it is only the floor
The Bureau of Community Environmental Health and Food Protection maintains Part 14 of the State Sanitary Code. Establish which subpart your target actually operates under, because it changes what is inspected:
| Subpart | Covers |
|---|---|
| Subpart 14-1 | Food Service Establishments, such as sit-down restaurants, take out restaurants and schools |
| Subpart 14-2 | Temporary Food Service Establishments, such as those found at fairs and other community events |
| Subpart 14-4 | Mobile Food Service Establishments and Pushcarts |
| Subpart 14-5 | Vending Machines |
Then read the sentence that matters most for a buyer: "Some local health departments may have their own regulations in addition to the Subparts" [2] .
So Part 14 tells you the minimum that applies everywhere in the state. It does not tell you what applies to your restaurant. Two identical premises in two counties can face different requirements, and the only way to find out is to ask the department that will issue your permit — which is why finding that department early is the point of this page.
Insurance comes before the permit
One sequencing rule worth putting on your timetable now. NYSDOH states that food service operators "must be in compliance with New York State Workers' Compensation and Paid Family Leave Benefits Insurance Requirements before a permit to operate will be issued" [2] .
Read the order. The cover is not something you arrange alongside the permit application — it is a precondition of the permit being issued [4] . A buyer who plans to sort insurance in closing week has put a dependency in the wrong order and will find out at the worst moment. See the first 90 days for the other obligations that run on their own clocks.
How to use this as a buyer
- Find the county your target operates in, and look it up above.
- Call that department first, before you spend money on diligence. One call tells you whether the permit can transfer, what a new application involves, and how long it takes.
- Ask what they require beyond Part 14. This is the question almost nobody asks, and it is the one the published regulations cannot answer.
- Get the target's inspection history. Open violations are the seller's until closing and yours afterwards.
- Put insurance ahead of the permit on your timetable, not beside it.
- Let the answer set the closing date. On food businesses the permit is usually the long pole, not the financing.
The food service permit guide sets out the questions to put to the department once you have found it.
What this page is and is not
It is a join of two NYSDOH publications, done once so you do not have to: the district office table and the county list, retrieved on 2026-09-06. The district contact details are reproduced exactly as published.
It is not a directory of county health departments, and deliberately so — those change, and the Department's own map is the version that stays current. It is also not a statement of what any particular department requires. Nothing here tells you whether a specific permit will transfer or what a specific county adds to Part 14. Both are questions for the department that will issue it, and both are worth asking before you sign anything.
Frequently asked questions
Who issues a food service permit in New York?
The Department of Health states it plainly: permits are issued by the local health department responsible for the area where the food service establishment is located. What varies is who that is. In some counties it is the county health department; in others the state runs the programme through a district office; and New York City is its own regime entirely.
How do I find out which applies to my county?
Check the district office table on this page first — if your county is one of the 20 listed, a NYSDOH district office runs the programme and the contact details are here. If it is not listed, the programme is run locally and NYSDOH's interactive map is the lookup for the current contact.
Does the permit transfer when I buy the business?
Assume it does not. A food service permit is issued to an operator for premises, and a change of ownership generally means a new application rather than an assignment. Establish the answer with the specific health department before you agree a closing date, because in practice this is what sets the date.
Is Part 14 the whole rule book?
No, and the Department says so: some local health departments may have their own regulations in addition to the state subparts. So Part 14 tells you the floor. Your county can require more, and the only way to know what it requires is to ask it.
What has to be in place before a permit is issued?
Insurance, and this catches buyers who leave it to closing week. NYSDOH states that food service operators must be in compliance with New York State workers’ compensation and Paid Family Leave benefits insurance requirements before a permit to operate will be issued. It is a prerequisite, not a parallel task.
Does this cover food trucks and vending machines?
The same permitting structure applies, under different subparts of Part 14 — mobile food service establishments and pushcarts sit in Subpart 14-4 and vending machines in Subpart 14-5. Establish which subpart your target actually operates under, because it changes what is inspected.
Sources cited on this page
Every mutable number on this page — program caps, tax rules, thresholds, filing deadlines — traces to one of these primary sources. Rules change; check the source before you act on the number.
- 1 New York State Department of Health. District Environmental Health Programs. https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/water/drinking/distphn.htm
- 2 New York State Department of Health. Regulations & Permit Requirements — Food Safety. https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/indoors/food_safety/regs.htm
- 3 New York State Department of Health. Interactive Map: Regional, District and County Environmental Health Programs. https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/water/drinking/doh_pub_contacts_map.htm
- 4 NYS Workers' Compensation Board. Employers' coverage requirements. https://www.wcb.ny.gov/content/main/Employers/Employers.jsp
Educational only — not legal, tax, lending, or investment advice. Confirm specific rules, rates, and forms with the relevant New York State agency, attorney, CPA, lender, or insurer before acting. See the editorial policy and methodology for how sourcing and review work.