Is your favorite restaurant up to code? Now you can find out online.
Published August 2, 2022
By Andrew Mundhenk, Henderson County Dept. of Public Health
How clean is your favorite restaurant in Henderson County? Now you can find out with the Henderson County Department of Public Health’s online inspection database.
You’ve likely seen the cards posted at restaurants with a score and letter grade. These scores are given out by the Health Department to grade an establishment’s level of cleanliness, food handling practices and proper food protection during preparation, storage and transportation.
Now those scores can also be seen on our online database, available at the Health Department’s website: www.hendersoncountync.gov/health/page/inspection-grades. In addition to scores, the public can also view information such as inspection reports and violations for establishments the Health Department inspects.
The Environmental Health Department is responsible for permitting and inspecting all food and lodging establishments in Henderson County. This includes restaurants, food stands and mobile food units.
Food, lodging and institution inspection helps ensure establishments operating in Henderson County meet the minimum sanitation standards as required by the Environmental Health Section of the N.C. Division of Public Health.
Inspectors pay one to four unannounced visits to each establishment per year, depending on the risk level. A full-service restaurant, for example, will be inspected more often than a bar serving light snacks. More than 400 establishments in Henderson County are inspected each year.
After inspection, an establishment receives a grade of A, B, or C. A grade of 100 to 90 is an A; 89 to 80 is a B; and 79 to 70 is a C. Each establishment is required to display its grade card in a prominent location for the public to see.
Any facility receiving less than 70 is closed immediately. Establishments have the chance to correct problems and ask for a reinspection, which must be given within 15 days of the request.
In addition to viewing inspection grades for restaurants, the public can view inspection results for everything Environmental Health checks. This includes lodging, childcare, summer camps, public swimming pools, nursing homes, schools, hospitals, tattoo artists and more.
How to view inspections
- Go to www.hendersoncountync.org/health and click on “Inspection Grades” under the Environmental Health tab. From there click “Inspection Database.”
- Once on the Inspection Management System website, type the name of the establishment in the search field at the top and click the “Start Search” button. If that doesn’t work, you can use the “Establishment Name” drop-down menu to find it.
- Once the desired establishment is pulled up, click the “Inspections” button. This will bring up the final scores and dates of inspection. You can also view the complete inspection form and any violations that may have been issued.
- If you would like to view another establishment, click on the "Return to Inspections" button at the top, then click on the "Return to Premise Lookup" button and refresh with the "Clear Search" button.
Results in this database are from October 2021 to present. We will continue to work with this new system to provide more information to the public.
