Open the county’s Health Inspection Scores page and official report portal. Compare purpose before score: Semi-Annual, Reinspection, and Approved Alternative are distinct. A blank score is neither zero nor failure.
Find the right food facility and dated visit
Use Search string, Date Range, and Inspection Purpose. On September 27, 2026, choices included Semi-Annual, Reinspection, Additional Reinspection, and Approved Alternative. Match the address and date.
The portal opened with a January 1 to September 27, 2026 date range. This was a filter setting, not an archive start date. Widen it to look for older visits. The site’s guide to reading violations helps compare cited items and corrections.
Why Approved Alternative has no score
Deschutes County says some Approved Alternative foodservice inspections are unscored. It gives two possible uses: a 2024 food-safety risk-factor study or joint inspector training. Those uses describe the category, not this facility’s visit.
One opened Approved Alternative report had no score field and no entries under Observations & Corrective Actions. It establishes no motive, correction, or pass. Keep its date and purpose without inventing a result.
| Visit | How to read it |
|---|---|
| Semi-Annual | Read the dated score and findings, when shown |
| Reinspection or Additional Reinspection | Compare observations with the earlier visit |
| Approved Alternative | An unscored category; keep its narrative |
The portal also lists pool and lodging inspections. Confirm the food facility type before comparing scores across records.
What a score below 70 starts
For restaurant and mobile-food inspections, Deschutes County says scoring begins at 100 and deducts points for violations. Priority and Priority Foundation violations carry more points; repeat violations can double their points. Read the item descriptions and the inspection date with the score. A score by itself does not say which practice was observed or whether a later visit verified a correction.
The county says a score below 70 produces a Failed To Comply notice posted at the main entrance and a recheck inspection. “Below” matters: this source does not say that a score of exactly 70 triggers that notice. Keep the first scored report, the notice, and the later recheck as separate dated events. Do not treat a posted notice as proof that the restaurant was closed.
Closure requires its own record
Oregon law, ORS 624.073, distinguishes a low sanitation score and reinspection from a closure action. For a below-minimum score, the law warns of impending closure if a reinspection within 30 days still fails the minimum standard. For an imminent or present public-health danger from a critical violation, the law also permits a written closure order. Those are different paths; the county’s below-70 entrance notice alone does not establish either an order or current operating status.
The portal’s Approved Alternative visit label does not, by itself, identify the statute’s approved alternative procedure or authorize reopening.
If closure action is taken after reinspection, the law describes an approved correction plan and a later inspection with an acceptable score before food service resumes. For a particular restaurant, seek the actual order, cited report, correction evidence, and decision allowing operation. The site’s closure and permit-suspension guide helps keep those documents in sequence. A later routine score is not a substitute for the action record.
When the online list looks incomplete
The Oregon Health Authority’s food-safety page says the statewide inspection portal posts reports after a 14-day lag. It also warns of possible gaps from early 2020 through 2022 while local health departments supported pandemic response. An absent recent report may still be in that posting period; a missing older report is not a clean-history finding.
If the portal still lacks the document, use Deschutes County’s Public Records Requests page. The county directs requests for departments not separately listed, including Health Services, through its public-records request form. Give the establishment name and address, the date range, and whether you need a routine inspection, Approved Alternative report, recheck, notice, closure order, or reopening decision. Disclosure of every requested record is not guaranteed.
A dated inspection is not a guarantee of current food safety. Sources were checked September 27, 2026.