For a fixed Texas restaurant or other retail-food establishment, start with the physical address. The Texas Department of State Health Services regulates retail food in areas without a city ordinance, county order, or local health authority performing that work. Cities, counties, and public-health districts inspect establishments in their own jurisdictions.
At a glance
- Score: report only. The 2021 DSHS inspection form marks each item In, Out, N/O or N/A, with no point total.
- Pass mark: DSHS sets none. Its marking instructions leave any score to a local jurisdiction that has its own system.
- Most serious violations: Priority (P), then Priority Foundation (Pf); Core items are the lower tier.
- Checked: DSHS pages checked October 21, 2026.
Restaurant Inspection Check tool · rules checked October 21–23, 2026
Inspection score reader
Pick the program that inspected the restaurant, then enter what the report or door sign shows. The reader explains it on that agency's own scale and tells you what usually happens next.
Use the official Texas retail-food jurisdiction map before requesting a report. The answer may be DSHS, a county, a city, or a health district. Go by the map result rather than the postal city or county name.
Confirm that DSHS holds the fixed-facility record
The DSHS retail-food lane includes restaurants, bars, cafes, snack bars, and other operations that prepare food for individual service. Food manufacturers, wholesalers, and warehouses use a different DSHS program. Mobile food vendors follow separate statewide rules.
Use this sequence:
- Enter or locate the establishment’s full physical address in the jurisdiction map.
- Record the health authority shown for that location.
- If the result names a local city, county, or public-health district, use that authority’s records route.
- If DSHS is the regulator, request the DSHS-held inspection report.
Checking custody first keeps a blank state response from being misread as “no inspection.” The site’s city and county inspection directory organizes local routes. The Harris County food-inspection guide is one example of a separate local custodian; its portal and fields belong to the county rather than the DSHS state process.
Request the inspection report from the correct DSHS recipient
DSHS provides a program-specific Open Records page for retail-food establishments. It separates an informal program question from a formal records request.
For a question about the retail-food records program, the page lists foodestablishmentsopenrecords@dshs.texas.gov. A formal Texas Public Information Act request must be in writing and should be addressed to the DSHS Public Information Coordinator. The page lists OpenRecords@dshs.texas.gov for that request, along with mail and fax options.
Ask for an existing document rather than asking DSHS to decide whether a restaurant is safe or explain why an event happened. A practical request can identify:
- establishment name, including a former name if relevant;
- full physical address;
- permit number, if known;
- document type, such as routine inspection report, compliance or reinspection report, correction verification, or closing and reopening notice; and
- a bounded date range.
A clear request sentence is: “Please provide DSHS retail-food inspection reports and any related correction-verification or reopening records for [establishment], [physical address], from [start date] through [end date].” Add the permit number when available. DSHS says it will notify the requester in writing if costs apply; ask about response time and file format when you send the request.
How to read the DSHS 56-item inspection form
The current DSHS-linked Retail Food Establishment Inspection Report records the inspection date and purpose, permit number, establishment type, risk category, physical address, repeat count, and corrected-on-site count. It divides 56 items between foodborne-illness risk factors and public-health interventions, and good retail practices. The Risk Category helps determine inspection frequency rather than grading the inspection.
The status marks answer different questions:
| Mark | Meaning on the DSHS form |
|---|---|
| IN | The item was in compliance during that inspection |
| OUT | The item was not in compliance |
| N/O | The item was not observed |
| N/A | The item did not apply |
| COS | All violations cited under that item were corrected and verified before the inspection ended |
| R | The same violation under that item was cited on the previous inspection report |
Read the observation and corrective-action narrative beside every OUT item. Preserve the rule reference, what the inspector observed, the required action, and any stated deadline. Treat N/O and N/A as items with no finding at that visit, and read a COS item as a violation that was observed and then corrected.
The DSHS marking instructions call a score optional when a jurisdiction has a scoring system. The state form has no mandatory statewide restaurant grade, so when a returned DSHS report shows no score, read its items rather than adding item numbers, assigning demerits, or borrowing a local formula.
Separate Priority, Priority Foundation, and Core items
Texas Chapter 228 adopts the 2017 FDA Food Code and its supplement by reference, with listed exclusions and Texas provisions controlling in a conflict. The report’s item class helps explain the correction sequence:
- A Priority item addresses a provision whose application directly prevents, eliminates, or reduces a food-safety hazard to an acceptable level.
- A Priority Foundation item supports or enables control of Priority items through measures such as training, infrastructure, equipment, or records.
- A Core item covers provisions outside those two classes, often involving general sanitation, operating controls, facilities, equipment design, or maintenance.
Priority and Priority Foundation violations are generally corrected during the inspection. If the regulator grants more time because of the hazard and complexity of the correction, the adopted Food Code’s correction provisions cap the deadline at 72 hours after the inspection for a Priority item and 10 calendar days after the inspection for a Priority Foundation item or HACCP deviation. Core items use a regulator-set date no later than 90 calendar days after the inspection, unless the regulator approves a written schedule and no health hazard exists or will result from the extension.
These are correction deadlines; completion shows up in the regulator’s verification. For a Priority or Priority Foundation violation or a HACCP deviation given additional time, the regulator verifies and documents correction after receiving notice of it or at the end of the specified period. Match a later compliance, reinspection, or follow-up record by establishment identity, date, purpose, and the original item. A later routine inspection may or may not address each earlier OUT item, so check item by item.
Texas closure orders, disciplinary actions and license status
An ordinary OUT item is a finding; closure follows a different path. Under the adopted Food Code, an imminent health hazard generally requires the permit holder to stop operations and notify the regulator. An unaffected area may continue separately. For an extended electrical or water interruption, continued operation can also be allowed under an approved written emergency plan, with immediate action controlling the food-safety risk and notice to the regulator when that plan is implemented. When operations are discontinued, regulator approval is required before they resume.
For a closure question, request the actual closing or emergency order, its date and basis, and the later approval or notice addressing resumption.
DSHS also publishes retail-food compliance and disciplinary actions. DSHS explains that the action depends on factors such as severity, prior violations, correction efforts, harm, and the likelihood of recurrence. That list and its annual trend reports are enforcement records. Use them alongside the routine inspection report and a current license check.
Use the licensing service linked from the DSHS retail-food program page when license status is the question. Preserve the license record’s own lookup date. A final action, an older inspection report, and a current license each answer different questions.
Request older history with a bounded date range
For older records, use the same formal written request and name the years and record types needed. Ask DSHS which years it holds if you cannot establish the history from the reports supplied. If ownership or the establishment name changed, include both names and ask DSHS whether the records belong to one continuous operator.
If a response or action-list entry is missing, check for the wrong custodian, a name or address change, an incomplete date range, or a record outside the requested category. Keep a note of the regulator, matched address, establishment and permit identity, inspection date and purpose, item statuses, correction sequence, any separate order or final action, source, and retrieval date.
Counties with their own health departments publish differently from the state. The Grayson County ratings and report copies guide shows one county’s ratings directory and its risk-based inspection counts.
Texas DSHS pages and rules checked September 27, 2026.
Related guides
For the food handler training rule that applies statewide, see the Texas food handler card guide.