Boulder County restaurant inspection history is split between a 2013–2025 archive and a separate 2025-present dataset. Use the newer dataset for a current inspection, and use the archive when the inspection date belongs to the earlier series. Keep the two apart even when a business name or address looks the same: the field sets and row structures differ, and the publisher pages offer no old-to-new ID crosswalk.
Both datasets are published through the Colorado Information Marketplace and attributed to Boulder County. Boulder County Public Health’s Food Safety Program links the public inspection search and open-data route for retail food establishments in Boulder County.
Boulder County’s 2013–2025 archive and 2025-present dataset
The date attached to the inspection is the date that answers the reader’s question. A dataset’s data-update or metadata-update date describes the publishing container.
| Dataset and coverage | Fields to compare |
|---|---|
| 2013–2025 archive: historical food-service inspections; static, with a link to the successor | Facility ID and location; inspection date/type; item-level violation description, points, category and status |
| 2025-present successor: newer food-service records, with a link back to the archive | Business ID and address; first/final inspection dates; score, Result, inspection type and comments |
On September 27, 2026, the current data page showed Data Last Updated August 7, 2026, while the dataset metadata had a later September 26 modification date; each row keeps its own inspection date. The archive is marked static, with no further updates expected. Its rows are violation-level, so a row count overstates the number of inspection visits.
Matching a Boulder County facility by business_id or facilityId
On the current data page, start with the name but confirm the full address and business_id. The table interface provides Search, records-per-page, and column controls; its table search filters the displayed records. On the archive, use facilityId, facility name, and the component address fields. Keep different addresses on separate lines even when the public-facing name is identical.
The archive warns that its siteAddress can be the home-office address of the company that owns the restaurant. Use the actual inspection location fields and event date when interpreting an inspection. A headquarters address, map point, business ID, and inspection event are different objects.
An unchanged name and address across the two datasets can be useful evidence to investigate, but confirming an unchanged owner, permit or operation across an archive facilityId and a current business_id takes more than that. Record both identifiers instead of replacing one with the other.
Why several Boulder rows can share one inspection date
The current dataset defines firstInspectionDate as the first inspection date and finalInpsectionDate—spelled that way in the published metadata—as the final inspection date. It says the dates will differ when a restaurant required a reinspection according to the Result or inspection-type field. The Result field is described as Pass or reinspection required, and g6_act_typ identifies the inspection type.
A displayed row may or may not be a separate visit. In the live table, multiple rows can share the same business ID, address, score, result, first date, final date, and inspection type while carrying different comments. Some entries also show first and final dates months apart while the type remains Routine. Treat each row as a published data record.
For a timeline, place rows with matching business and date fields together, preserve every comment, and keep the first and final dates exactly as published. Count visits only from the underlying reports. If the result, dates and type leave the sequence unclear, request the inspection report.
Violation detail is richer in the archive than in the successor
Boulder County’s Restaurant Inspection Data page defines the archive’s violation fields. They include a violation description and points, a Critical or Non-Critical type, and a status. The county’s inspection and violation guide explains current report marks such as R for repeat, OUT for not in compliance, IN for compliant, NO for not observed, NA for not applicable, and COS for corrected on site.
The 2025-present dataset publishes a score, result, inspection type, comments, and the first/final dates, but its listed schema leaves out the archive’s item-level violation code, points, type and status columns. The underlying report may contain violation detail beyond the open-data row. Our guide to reading violation findings explains how to separate the observation, correction and later verification.
The two score columns also live in different schemas. The archive links to scoring explanations for its inspection records; the successor describes only a score given to the restaurant and a separate Pass or reinspection-required result. Without a county-published crosswalk, keep each era’s score on its own scale.
Boulder County inspection types and the Reinspection Required result
Boulder County distinguishes several event types. A regular inspection is complete and can cite operational and structural violations. A routine inspection focuses on food handling, preparation practices, and contamination risks and may omit structural issues that do not directly affect food safety. A follow-up non-enforcement inspection checks correction of cited violations. A reinspection is an unannounced full inspection triggered when violations cause an establishment not to pass a routine inspection under enforcement requirements.
The current dataset’s Reinspection Required result tells you that another inspection was required; the final-date field may help identify the end of that published sequence. What was corrected, and any separate enforcement or closure action, are in the report or agency record, since the current schema has no closure, reopening or permit-status field.
Read a score, Result, inspection type, first date, final date, and comments together. If closure or reopening is the question, obtain the report or agency record that states that action. The site’s closure and permit suspension guide explains why a dated enforcement action and present operating authority should remain separate.
Contacting Boulder County’s Food Safety Program for a report
If a current name search returns nothing, try a shorter name and verify the address. Then check the archive for an older inspection date.
For unexplained first/final dates, missing item-level findings, or a closure question, contact the Boulder County Food Safety Program, which lists 303-441-1564 and a question form. Include the business name, address, both facility identifiers if available, the inspection date or date range, score, result, and inspection type. If the needed record is missing online, the county’s Colorado Open Records Act page links its Open Records Center and explains that county departments are custodians of records in their offices.
Boulder County and Colorado Information Marketplace pages checked September 27, 2026.