How often restaurants actually get inspected
Risk-based scheduling, why a taco truck and a hospital cafeteria are on different clocks, and what the gaps mean.
“When was this place last inspected?” has a more interesting answer than a simple interval, because almost every US health department schedules by risk, not by calendar.
A facility that handles raw proteins, cools and reheats food, and serves vulnerable populations (hospitals, nursing homes) is high-risk and typically sees inspectors two to four times a year. A coffee shop reheating pastries is low-risk and may be visited once a year or less. A convenience store selling only packaged goods sits at the bottom of the ladder.
Why gaps appear in a record
Beyond risk tiers, real-world factors stretch intervals: inspector staffing shortages (a well-documented, nationwide issue), post-pandemic backlogs, and jurisdictions that pause routine work during emergencies. A 14-month gap for a low-risk deli is normal; the same gap for a high-volume full-service kitchen is worth noticing.
This is also why CleanPlate applies a freshness policy: an establishment with no inspection in over two years — several missed cycles under any schedule — most likely closed, so we stop listing it in search and directories rather than present a stale grade as current.