Health inspection reports describe what the health inspector saw at an inspection.

In this section

• What to know about health inspection reports
• How to look up health inspection reports
• How inspections work
• Violations
• Business types

Related links

• See the Minnesota Food Code
• See the Minneapolis Food Code
• See the Minnesota Food Code glossary

In general

Health inspection reports describe what the health inspector saw at an inspection.

• Routine and follow-up health inspection reports for the current year and three previous years are online.
• Health inspection reports are posted within seven business days of the inspection.
• Health inspections are unannounced.

A health inspection is a snapshot in time

A health inspection is similar to a checkup at your health clinic.

• At your checkup, you may be told that you are in good shape, but you should exercise a little more, lose a few pounds, and eat more fruits and vegetables. In other words, you are basically healthy but could make a few improvements.
  

A healthy business can follow correct procedures to safely handle and serve food and still have room for some improvement.

• Even the best businesses can have violations.

Individual reports

You can search health inspection reports for businesses using our interactive dashboard.

Look up a health inspection report

About the lookup dashboard

• See how to search and read data in the dashboard
• When looking up individual reports, if a sign-in box appears click on the "cancel" button, then the lookup page will open.

Bulk data

You can view and download bulk data from health inspection reports.

See bulk health inspection data

Report scoring

A health inspection report begins with a score of 100. Violation points are subtracted from 100 to determine the final score for a business. Violations receive either zero, two or four points each.

Frequency

Businesses have a routine inspection every 12, 18 or 24 months. How often a business is inspected depends on the food preparation methods used.

A follow-up inspection is done if a business scored 91 points or lower on their most recent inspection. If a business has an inspection report score of over 91 points, health inspectors have the discretion to do a follow-up inspection on significant issues.

Follow-up inspections will be done within about 14 days after the routine inspection. During follow-up inspections, health inspectors check if violations have been corrected.

Process

The main job of a Health Inspector is to make sure a business is serving safe food. Health Inspectors check how food is received, stored, prepared and cooked. They also check that food safety rules are followed. Some food safety rules are about:

• Using the correct length of time and the correct temperatures when cooking, reheating or cooling food
• Washing hands correctly
• Making sure that cross contamination between raw and ready to eat foods is avoided.

Health inspectors check many other items when doing a health inspection.

Any practices that do not meet Minnesota Food Code or Minneapolis food ordinances are reported as violations. Violations are either Priority 1, Priority 2 or Priority 3.

Types of violations

There are three types of violations.

Priority 1 violations

These violations are given four points each. They are the most serious violations. They can cause food to be unsafe or can cause an injury. Examples are

• Not cooking or cooling food to the correct temperature, or
• Employees who do not wash their hands correctly.

Priority 2 violations

These violations are given two points each. Priority 2 violations are things that are done to control food safety risk factors. Examples are a handsink without soap or not having a thermometer.

Priority 3 violations

These violations are given zero points. Priority 3 items relate to general cleanliness and maintenance. Examples are broken equipment or dirty floors.

Next steps

Health Inspectors write orders to the owner or operator to fix the problem that caused the violation. 

Some violations must be corrected immediately. Some violations are given more time to be corrected.

Food businesses with health inspection reports online

• Adult and childcare centers
• Bakeries
• Bars (food only)
• Caterers
• Coffee shops
• Convenience stores
• Food shelves
• Food trucks
• Ice cream carts
• Grocery stores
• Meat markets
• Restaurants

Businesses that do not have food health inspection reports online

• Breweries
• Nursing homes and care centers
• Hospitals

These businesses are inspected by state agencies. They are not inspected by the Minneapolis Health Department.