What Health Inspectors Notice The Moment They Walk Into A Restaurant

There are about 412,000 independent restaurants and nearly 240,000 chain restaurant locations in America, according to data from Technomic via Nation's Restaurant News. That's well over 600,000 establishments that need to be regularly inspected to get those health inspector grades you see in restaurant windows. While diners may notice some things on their own, we rely on inspectors to catch the issues we can't see to ensure food safety. There are a few things that will jump out at a health inspector right away that most people might not notice.

Tasting Table talked to Brian Labus, Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, UNLV School of Public Health, about some major red flags a health inspector will notice right off the bat. "Inspectors initially notice the same things that customers do: smells and general cleanliness," Labus said. "If the restaurant is disorganized, dirty, and smells bad where the customers can see it, it's probably going to be much worse in the back."

One thing Labus said inspectors notice quickly is the hand sinks: "If they are blocked and difficult to get to, or are lacking paper towels or soap, no one is going to be using them to wash their hands." This is especially concerning because, according to the CDC, many norovirus outbreaks in restaurants are linked to employees cross-contaminating food items with their bare hands. Norovirus is the most common type of food poisoning in the U.S.

What employees do and don't do with their hands is a major source of concern for health inspectors, according to Labus. "If employees are handling cash then handling food without washing their hands, this might not be obvious to you," he said. "But an inspector can observe employees for a while and recognize when they do things wrong." Money is widely known to harbor harmful bacteria, so there's real cause for concern here.

Another less obvious danger is improper holding temperatures. "Inspectors are also going to be able to check temperatures to make sure that foods are not kept at unsafe temperatures," Labus said. "It's going to be pretty obvious if the ice cream is not kept cold enough, but you might not notice that some of the toppings were kept at the perfect temperature for bacterial growth." Hundreds of foodborne illness cases have been attributed to improper food temperatures, so this is a point of constant concern for health inspectors.

While those are health code red flags you shouldn't ignore, Labus also points out that there are some general signs to look for that can be encouraging. "Organization and cleanliness are good signs that they care about food safety," he said. "If they keep the working area clean even when they are really busy, this really shows that they have systems in place to keep people from getting sick."