How to handle a health inspection visit, step by step

Most routine inspections are unannounced. The inspector walks in during the lunch rush, and the next hour decides what goes on a report anyone can ask to read. The kitchen's condition is built over months, but the visit itself still matters: who meets the inspector, how fast the records appear, how questions are answered, and what gets fixed before they leave.

This is that hour, step by step, with references to the FDA Food Code 2022, the model code most US health departments adopt in some form. Your jurisdiction's version is the one that applies, and details such as scoring and follow-up visits vary. For the Florida process, read our Florida health inspection prep. To practise beforehand, use the mock inspection scoring sheet.

General information, not legal advice. Your local health department's rules come first.

Before the visit: one place for everything they might ask for

Records found in two minutes say "this place is run". Keep them in one binder, and make sure every opener and closer knows where it is.

Step 1: At the door, the person in charge meets them

Whoever is running the shift is the person in charge, and that person (not the newest employee at the register) greets the inspector. Write it into your opening procedure: "If an inspector arrives, get the person in charge. They stop what they're doing."

The inspector shows identification and says what they're there for. The Food Code says that after the regulatory authority "presents official credentials and provides notice of the purpose of, and an intent to conduct, an inspection, the PERSON IN CHARGE shall allow the REGULATORY AUTHORITY to determine if the FOOD ESTABLISHMENT is in compliance with this Code by allowing access to the establishment, allowing inspection, and providing information and records specified in this Code" (§8-402.11).

So check the ID and let them in. Refusing access is noted on the report (§8-402.30) and can lead to an inspection order (§8-402.40). If you doubt someone's identity, call the health department on the number from its website.

Step 2: Walk with them, and take your own notes

Go along the whole time. Bring:

• A probe thermometer, calibrated, so you can check the same food they check.
• Something to write on. Note every item they mention, where, and what they said.
• Keys to the dry storage, office and chemical cabinet.

Keep the team working normally. Don't send someone ahead to tidy or throw food away without telling the inspector; it looks like hiding something. If the inspector asks an employee a question, let the employee answer.

Step 3: Answer the questions

The person in charge has to show they know the food safety basics. The Food Code says they demonstrate it by "Complying with this Code by having no violations of PRIORITY ITEMS during the current inspection", by "Being a certified FOOD protection manager" who passed an accredited test, or by "Responding correctly to the inspector's questions as they relate to the specific FOOD operation" (§2-102.11).

The listed areas include cold holding and cooking temperatures, handwashing, the symptoms that keep an employee out of work, allergens and cleaning. Practise answers your shift leads can give in a sentence:

"Here's where we record it" beats a guess.

Step 4: Fix what you can before they leave

Some problems can be fixed on the spot: food moved to a working cooler, a sanitizer bucket remade, soap put back at a hand sink. Fix them while the inspector is there, and say what you did.

The Food Code expects that. A permit holder "shall at the time of inspection correct a violation of a PRIORITY ITEM or PRIORITY FOUNDATION ITEM", unless the inspector agrees to a longer time (§8-405.11). The longest periods it allows:

Ask which time frame applies to each item, and write it down.

Step 5: Read the report, ask questions, then sign

At the end, the inspector goes through the report with you. The Food Code says they "shall provide a copy of the completed inspection report and the notice to correct violations to the PERMIT HOLDER or to the PERSON IN CHARGE, and request a signed acknowledgment of receipt" (§8-403.30).

• Read every line before you sign. Ask what each item means, and what "corrected" looks like for it.
• Signing isn't agreeing. The Food Code says "An acknowledgment of receipt is not an agreement with findings" (§8-403.40). If you disagree, sign, say so politely, and ask how your health department handles disputes.
• Keep your copy. The report is public: the regulatory authority "shall treat the inspection report as a public document" (§8-403.50).

Step 6: After they leave

The same day, while it's fresh:

1. Tell the owner, with a photo of the report.
2. Make a correction list: each item, who fixes it, by when (inside the inspector's time frame) and the proof.
3. Tell the team at the next pre-shift huddle (coming Nov 3), without blame.
4. Fix the cause, not just the item. A warm cooler once is a repair; on every inspection, it's a maintenance schedule.
5. Put any follow-up visit on the calendar.

Visit-day checklist

• [ ] The person in charge meets the inspector and checks their ID
• [ ] Records binder handed over within minutes
• [ ] Someone walks along the whole time, with a thermometer and notes
• [ ] Questions answered, or "here's where we record it"
• [ ] On-the-spot fixes made, and the inspector told
• [ ] The report read and understood before signing; a copy kept
• [ ] Owner told the same day; a correction list inside the time frames

Where Mays fits

• Temperature records on demand. With connected thermometers, Download PDF on a thermometer's page gives a health-department log for any dates with your License / Permit #, the safe range and a pass or fail on every row. See Health-department temperature logs.
• Certificates on file. Each person's food handler card and food protection manager certificate are kept with their expiry dates, with reminders before they expire, once Labor law compliance is on. See Food safety certificates.
• The binder in the app. Upload your permit, illness policy and last report to a Knowledge Base folder, readable on a phone. See Knowledge base basics.
• Corrections with proof. In the app, make each line of the correction list a one-off task with a Due Date and a Photo answer, assigned to its owner. See One-off tasks.
• A record of the visit. Write the visit up in the manager logbook so the next shift reads it, and add the follow-up visit as an event on the schedule. See Manager logbook and Schedule events.

What Mays doesn't do: there's no inspection record (date, items, score) linked to its corrections, so keep the report in your files.

The hour that shows how you run the place

You can't prepare a kitchen in the hour an inspector is there, but you can run that hour well: the right person at the door, records in two minutes, honest answers and fixes on the spot.

Start your free trial: 30 days, every module, no card needed. Or book a walkthrough and we'll set up your logs, certificates and records folder with you.