How restaurant inspections work in Pennsylvania
Who inspects Pennsylvania's restaurants, how results are graded, and how to read them on CleanPlate.
CleanPlate's Pennsylvania coverage is Pittsburgh and surrounding Allegheny County, which runs a placard system you can see on restaurant doors across the county.
Who does the inspecting
The Allegheny County Health Department inspects food facilities county-wide — Pittsburgh proper plus more than a hundred surrounding municipalities.
How results are graded
Allegheny County posts placards rather than grades: “Inspected & Permitted” (operating in compliance), “Consumer Alert” (serious uncorrected violations — the yellow flag), and closure when hazards demand it. CleanPlate maps these to PASS, CONDITIONAL, and CLOSED respectively, so the placard on the door and the status on the page agree.
Reading it on CleanPlate
Every Pennsylvania 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.