For a Washington food processing facility, start on the WSDA Food Safety page and open the current licensed-firm list for Food Processing Plants. Match the license number, name, status, and site address. Then use those details and a date range in a WSDA public-records request for the actual inspection history.
The licensed-firm list and the inspection record answer different questions. The list is updated monthly and identifies the licensed processing facility; it has no inspection-date, score, or violation columns. An inspection report, Notice of Correction, later verification, and formal enforcement order are separate records. Collecting that chain prevents a current license row from being mistaken for a clean inspection history.
Decide whether WSDA owns the food activity
WSDA covers food processing, manufacturing, storage, and handling for wholesale distribution. Its food-processor guidance includes activities such as cooking, baking, freezing, slicing, dehydrating, smoking, roasting coffee, bottling water, and repackaging.
Retail food service sold directly to consumers generally belongs to a local health department. The WSDA business guidance distinguishes local retail licensing from the state processing program. A mixed business can have both a local retail-food record and a separate WSDA processor record. Confirm the regulated activity before combining documents.
The WSDA processor license does not transfer to a buyer or a new location. When ownership or location changes, search and request records under both the former and current names. Use the street address and date range to connect them, but keep the separate licenses and operating periods distinct.
Build the record chain from the processor license
The current Food Processing Plants spreadsheet exposes these identification fields: License number, Name, Status, Street 1, Street 2, Town, ZIP code, County, and Phone. Preserve the displayed name, license number, and physical location exactly. Do not treat the spreadsheet’s Status field as an inspection result.
Ask WSDA for a bounded set of records rather than “everything about” a company:
- inspection reports for the facility, license number, and date range;
- each Notice of Correction and its cited inspection;
- later inspection or other agency verification of correction;
- any Notice of Intent and final, default, or stipulated order; and
- any suspension, denial, revocation, or later authorization that resolves the operating-status question.
The Public Disclosure page provides WSDA’s request center, email address, and phone number. The request center also has a Public Archive, but its request-number, date, keyword, and open/closed-request fields do not make it a complete facility inspection database. A request or archive result does not establish that no other responsive record exists.
Read a WSDA score with Critical findings
Washington’s processor scoring rule is not a restaurant letter grade. Under WAC 16-165-150, an inspector starts at 100 and subtracts the debits assigned to Significant violations. The criteria table in WAC 16-165-140 assigns no debit to a Critical violation because Critical status is handled separately.
The distinction changes how the record should be read:
| Report fact | What it means under the rule | What it does not prove |
|---|---|---|
| Score of 90 or more, no Critical finding | The inspection meets both parts of substantial compliance | Conditions remained unchanged after the inspection |
| Critical finding corrected before the inspection ended | A score may be recorded; substantial compliance also requires at least 90 points. Read the finding and correction together | The Critical finding never occurred |
| Critical finding not corrected during the inspection | No score is recorded under the scoring rule | Automatic closure or license revocation |
| Score below 90 | The score falls below substantial compliance | That formal enforcement or closure automatically followed |
WAC 16-165-120 defines a Critical violation around food adulteration or a condition that could cause or contribute to injury or illness. A Significant violation is one not classified as Critical. Read the observation, its classification, and any correction notation together. The site’s guide to reading food inspection violations provides a broader field-by-field method, but the WSDA rule controls this processor score.
Keep correction notice, verification, and enforcement separate
WSDA’s compliance page says a Notice of Correction identifies the requirement, observation, needed correction, and technical assistance. It is a public record, not a formal enforcement action. The page instructs a firm to correct violations within 30 calendar days of the inspection and to request an extension within 10 calendar days when needed.
A deadline, extension request, or operator statement is not verification that correction occurred. Find the later inspection or other written WSDA determination. The processor guidance describes later routine visits as unannounced and based on product risk; it does not promise a public report every year or a universal reinspection interval.
Under WAC 16-165-160, WSDA may issue a Notice of Correction for a score below 90 or a Critical violation. The rule allows the agency to consider enforcement after two sub-90 inspections within a consecutive three-year period or failure to correct a Critical violation during the inspection. It does not make either event an automatic closure.
Formal enforcement begins through a separate Notice of Intent and can lead to a fine, suspension, denial, or revocation. If operating authority matters, obtain the dated order and the later agency document that resolves it. The site’s closure and permit-suspension guide explains why a violation report, action order, and permission to operate should be kept as separate events.
No public facility-by-facility WSDA inspection-history search was verified. A monthly license row, an absent score, or a record-request search with no obvious match does not prove a facility had no violations, no enforcement, or current approval to operate.
Sources checked September 27, 2026. License lists, agency custody, and public-request tools can change; confirm the current WSDA program and facility identity before relying on the record sequence.