Use Tennessee’s Retail Inspection Scores portal for a grocery, convenience market, supermarket, or similar store that primarily offers food for off-premises consumption. Use the Tennessee Department of Health or the responsible contract county for a standalone restaurant or other food-service establishment.
That agency choice is the first check. The Tennessee Department of Agriculture says its online retail-store scores cover inspections on or after April 3, 2023. A restaurant can be absent because it belongs in the Health system, while an older retail-store inspection can be absent because it precedes the Agriculture portal’s stated date boundary.
Confirm that the business is a retail food store
The Agriculture Department’s Food Safety page defines its retail-store route around grocery stores, convenience markets, supermarkets, and similar non-manufacturing establishments offering food or food products directly to consumers for off-premises consumption. It says the department does not license or inspect restaurants.
A name containing “cafe,” “market,” or “deli” does not settle the question. A mixed operation can include food service within a retail store, and the public Agriculture portal may contain names that sound like restaurants. Use the regulator named on the permit or inspection report. If that is unavailable, ask Tennessee Agriculture at 615-837-5193 whether the operation is in its Food Safety Retail program.
For a standalone restaurant, begin with the Tennessee Department of Health’s Environmental Health page. It also warns that contract counties handle their own food-establishment inspections, permitting, and enforcement. Nashville and Davidson County readers can use our separate Nashville restaurant inspection guide; its local workflow and deadlines should not be applied to an Agriculture retail-store record.
Search the Agriculture portal by identity
The current Agriculture portal has one public participation search box. Its result table shows:
- License Number;
- Name;
- Address;
- County; and
- Food Safety Retail program status.
Use the public participation search box, then match the store name, street address, and county. Open View only after those identity fields agree. The program page shows the participant, license number, address, and a dated list of completed inspections with scores. Open a dated inspection to reach the report details.
The current inspection detail can display the inspection date, risk type, permit-posted and previous-inspection indicators, equipment and food temperatures when recorded, violations, observations, corrective actions, violation category, repeat indicator, and score fields. Fields can be blank when they do not apply or were not populated.
Program Status belongs to the Agriculture program participation. Do not convert “Current,” “Pending,” or another program label into a claim that the store is open, safe, or free of an enforcement restriction. Use the dated inspection and any separate administrative record for those questions.
Apply the April 3, 2023 boundary
Tennessee Agriculture’s Retail Food Establishments page links the portal specifically for inspections on or after April 3, 2023. Treat that date as the online coverage boundary supplied by the agency, not the start of the store’s regulatory history.
For an earlier inspection, a gap after that date, or an event not shown in the participation history, use Tennessee Agriculture’s Public Records Request. Tennessee’s official public-records FAQ limits the statutory right of access to Tennessee citizens; an agency may also provide records to noncitizens. If you are outside Tennessee, ask Agriculture whether it will accept your request. Include the store’s official name, street address, county, license number if known, and a bounded date range. Ask for the inspection report rather than “all information” when one visit is the object.
A no-result search does not prove that no inspection occurred. Check spelling, former names, address, county, regulator, and date boundary before reaching that conclusion.
A score below 70 starts a follow-up question
Tennessee Agriculture says retail food store scores are a general indication of compliance and that the inspection report describes sanitation conditions and associated health-risk findings. It also states that a score below 70 requires a follow-up inspection.
That statement does not say that the first sub-70 score, by itself, proves closure. It also does not show the follow-up outcome or current operating status. Keep each available event on its own row:
| Event | Record separately |
|---|---|
| Initial inspection | Date, type, score, observations, violation categories, corrective actions |
| Follow-up | Date, score or disposition, repeated or corrected items |
| Enforcement or closure | Order, effective date, stated basis |
| Reopening or release | Written agency decision and date |
The current detail format can label violations as Priority, Priority Foundation, or Core and can show whether an item is in or out of compliance. Read the observations and corrective actions with the score. Do not infer the missing details from the number alone. Our food-inspection violation guide explains how those fields answer different questions.
For example, imagine a fictional Valley Bend Market with a score of 68 and a later score of 84. The first result establishes the agency’s follow-up trigger. The second is a later inspection result. Neither score alone proves whether the store closed between visits or whether a separate order was lifted.
Request the missing step in the sequence
When a follow-up, closure, or reopening decision is not visible, request the exact object from the agency that issued it. Ask for the initial inspection, follow-up inspection, correction or enforcement order, and written release or reopening approval as separate dated records. The site’s reinspection follow-up guide can help compare the two inspections without erasing the first.
Do not combine Agriculture and Health records solely because the business name and address match. A mixed site can have separate regulated activities, and ownership or license changes can create another record boundary. Keep the agency, program, license number, establishment address, inspection date, and event type with every document.
Official sources checked September 27, 2026.