Inspections and Complaints

*Note: This page contains materials in the Portable Document Format (PDF). The free Adobe Reader may be required to view these files.

INSPECTIONS 

Inspections are performed at the County Health Department (CHD) level by the Environmental Health section. Each CHDs Environmental Health section is responsible for all DOH-regulated food service establishments located within their county. There are several types of inspections that are performed. The types of inspections that you may see in this report are routine inspections, re-inspections, and complaint inspections. Routine inspections are periodic inspections that are performed as a part of the on-going food safety system. Re-inspections are completed when a facility has violations that need corrections in more than the standard time frame. Complaint inspections are performed in response to a citizen’s complaint. Both routine and complaint inspections are unannounced inspections. This means there is no prior notice or pre-arranged time frame before the inspector arrives. If a re-inspection is required, the facility is given a specific date by which specified violations must be corrected; therefore, there is an arranged time for the re-visit.

Once an inspector completes an inspection, it is given a result of Satisfactory, Unsatisfactory, or Incomplete. "Satisfactory" means that there were no observed violations at the time of inspection or the violations that were observed were not significant enough to require correction before the next routine inspection. "Unsatisfactory" means that the violations were a significant threat to public health and sanitation and require correction before the next routine inspection. An "Incomplete" inspection means that the inspection was interrupted and the inspector had to leave before completing the inspection.

*Note: Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing.

**Did You Know?**

Due to past legislative changes the Department of Health no longer works with food service facilities in hospitals, nursing homes, child care facilities, many group homes, and churches and other not-for-profit religious organizations.  For information regarding child care facilities, please contact the Department of Children and Families.

COMPLAINTS

Restaurant, Mobile Food Vehicle, or Caterer.

Institution Such As A School, Assisted Living Facilities, or Jail. Bars not preparing food, Civic or Fraternal Organizations.

Grocery Stores, Convenient Stores, Food Processor

Group Homes

Additional Information

For information regarding hospitals and nursing homes, please contact the Agency for Health Care Administration. 

Read the Agency for Health Care Administration’s Monitoring of Hospitals and Nursing Home Food Service Operations.

For information regarding group homes that serve persons with disabilities, please contact the Agency for Person with Disabilities.

For information regarding child care facilities, please contact the Department of Children and Families.

Hand Washing (Personal Hygiene) is the number one cause of food borne outbreaks in our state.  Please use the link above to access our website on Hand Washing.