New Establishment Inspection Reports

The Chester County Health Department has been making food establishment inspection reports available to the public on our website since 2008. Beginning in 2013, the department moved the inspection process to a new system. The major changes that accompany the move to the new system include:

• In the past, only the generic description of each violation was available for viewing. Now, with the new system, the public will be able to read details of observations that lead to the violations.
• In the past, follow-up inspection reports were not posted on the website. Now, with the new system all follow-up visits will be posted and available to the public.

Until this year, CCHD's inspection reports consisted of two parts; a summary report, and a rating form. As of 2013, however, the Department is using a risk-based format closely modeled after the PA Department of Agriculture's report system. The first page of the report resembles the formerly used rating forms; however, there are no numerical points and therefore no final score tallied. Instead, all items are either marked "In Compliance", "Out of Compliance", "Not Applicable" or "Not Observed".

The top portion of the form (see first image below) consists of items that are foodborne illness risk factors. These factors are identified as being associated with foodborne illness outbreaks in food establishments. The bottom portion of the form shows items listed as Good Retail Practices. These are preventative measures used to help control the possibility of pathogens, chemicals and physical objects contaminating food.