How restaurant inspections work in California
Who inspects California's restaurants, how results are graded, and how to read them on CleanPlate.
California has no statewide restaurant grade — food inspection belongs to county environmental-health departments, and each county chose its own language. CleanPlate covers seven of the state's biggest systems: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange County, Santa Clara (San José), Alameda (Oakland), Sacramento, and Marin.
Who does the inspecting
County environmental health departments inspect under the California Retail Food Code. That shared code means inspectors everywhere check the same fundamentals; what differs is how each county summarizes the result.
How results are graded
Los Angeles County posts the classic A/B/C window grade with a numeric score. San Francisco uses placards: Pass, Conditional Pass, or Closure. Orange County likewise uses pass/reinspection placards. Santa Clara, Alameda, and several others use green/yellow/red placard systems — green for compliance, yellow for violations needing correction, red for closure. Sacramento reports pass/conditional results. CleanPlate maps letters straight through and placard colors to PASS/CONDITIONAL/FAIL equivalents, always alongside the county's own terminology.
Reading it on CleanPlate
Every California restaurant page on CleanPlate shows the establishment's current standing, its full inspection history with dates, and a link to the official agency behind the record. Grades are shown exactly as reported; where the source publishes no summary grade, the derived status is labeled as derived. Establishments with no inspection in over two years are treated as likely closed and excluded from search.