Food Establishment Inspection Reports
Thank you for your patience and understanding to limited program services during the Covid-19 emergency response. We are happy to report that, as of January 2021, licensed establishment services have resumed. We are responding to all new operator inquiries, licensing questions, and complaints. We are also back in the field performing onsite pre-inspections and routine inspections with Covid-19 protective measures and modifications.
Wondering how your favorite restaurant handles food safety? Inspection results for local food establishments are available to the public. Reports provide information on the conditions observed by a health inspector at the time of inspection, and may not reflect corrective actions or current condition.
Look up Health Inspection Reports
Food establishments can be permanent, mobile, or seasonal operations and include restaurants, grocery stores, delis, convenience stores, bars, worksite cafeterias, coffee shops, ice cream shops, catering kitchens and private organizations serving the public.
Understanding Health Inspection Reports
Routine Inspection: This is usually an unannounced inspection of a restaurant or retail food store performed at least once per year. A health inspector will perform a risk-based inspection for items such as, food handling, food temperature, personal hygiene and employee illness in the Wisconsin Food Code. In some cases, routine inspections are scheduled to ensure that the proper staff are present for the inspection.
Reinspection: This is an inspection for the specific purpose of following-up on health code violations that were found on the routine inspection.
The inspection report will include the following:
- Restaurant or retail food store name
- Address
- Inspection date
- Type of inspection (i.e. routine or reinspection)
- Wisconsin Food Code number and section
- Health inspector's observations
- Actions were taken/or required to correct the violation
Tools to understand inspections
Understanding Violations
The top five CDC (Center of Disease Control and Prevention) violations that most often are responsible for foodborne illness outbreaks are:
- Improper hot or cold holding temperatures of potentially hazardous food
- Improper cooking temperatures of food
- Dirty and/or contaminated utensils and equipment
- Poor health and hygiene among employees
- Food from unsafe sources
Priority violations are those items that if not done properly, are more likely to lead to foodborne illness. Priority violations must be corrected immediately at the time of inspection or within a few days. If the violation cannot be permanently corrected at the time of inspection, we will perform a reinspection.
Core violations are related to general sanitation and facility maintenance. Examples of core violations include dirty floors and leaking plumbing.
"Repeat" indicates the violation was observed and documented on previous routine inspection reports.
"Corrected Onsite" indicates the violation was corrected during the routine inspection. A reinspection may still be necessary even if the violation was corrected onsite.
Please note when interpreting a report, try not to focus on the number of violations cited, but on the types of violations. Keep in mind that some priority violations may increase the risk for foodborne illness.
We do not score or grade health inspections.