Restaurant health inspection checklist: the violations NYC and Chicago inspectors cite most

In our analysis of 16,304 routine New York City inspections over the past year, 88% found at least one critical violation. Even a well-run kitchen should expect the inspector to find something.

Inspectors cite the same few things: cold food above 41°F, food-contact surfaces not sanitized, food left unprotected, and signs of pests. In Chicago, 22% of routine restaurant inspections failed, and pests appeared in 46% of the failures. Last checked: 5 November 2026.

What do health inspectors look for?

A US health inspection checks your kitchen against the food code your state or city has adopted, most often a version of the FDA Food Code. The Food Code is a model: it becomes law only when a state, county or city adopts it, and each one adds its own rules and scoring.

Violations come in levels. The FDA Food Code marks each requirement as Priority (directly prevents illness, such as cooking and holding temperatures), Priority Foundation (supports a priority item, such as a thermometer, a written procedure or soap at the sink) or Core (general sanitation and maintenance). Cities translate that into their own systems: New York City scores "critical" and "not critical" violations into points, while Chicago records pass, pass with conditions or fail.

The core numbers most inspectors will check, from the 2026 Food Code:

The violations New York City inspectors cite most

Our analysis of the NYC Department of Health's restaurant inspection results (NYC Open Data, dataset updated 4 November 2026): we took every "Cycle Inspection / Initial Inspection" from 1 November 2025 to 31 October 2026, dropped the placeholder rows dated 1900-01-01, and counted the share of inspections citing each violation code at least once. That is 16,304 routine inspections of 15,945 restaurants.

Across those inspections, 88.4% recorded at least one critical violation, the average was 3.4 violations, and only 51 found nothing at all. New York grades on points: 0 to 13 is an A, 14 to 27 a B, 28 or more a C, according to the Health Department. On the initial inspection, 59.6% scored in the A range, 22.0% in the B range and 18.4% scored 28 or more. In the same 12 months, across all inspection types, the department ordered 588 closures at 520 restaurants.

The pattern is clear: temperature, sanitizing and pests are the critical findings. Two of the three most common are a thermometer reading and a sanitizer test strip.

Why do Chicago restaurants fail inspections?

Our analysis of the City of Chicago's food inspections data (Chicago Data Portal, inspections from 3 November 2025 to 30 October 2026, facility type "Restaurant", counting only pass, pass with conditions and fail):

Two findings matter for an owner. First, risk category barely changes the odds: routine inspections failed 22.1% of the time at "Risk 1 (High)" restaurants (4,060 inspections) and 23.4% at "Risk 2 (Medium)" (394). Second, about one in five pre-opening license inspections fails, but fewer than one in 20 fails the re-inspection. The second visit is where openings are won.

What was cited in the 992 routine inspections that failed:

Paperwork fails restaurants too: missing allergen training records and sanitation certificates each show up in more than one failed inspection in five. To reproduce: download the portal's rows for those dates with facility type "Restaurant", keep the three result values above, and count each numbered violation once per inspection.

What changed in the 2026 FDA Food Code?

The FDA published the 2026 Food Code in September 2026, its first full edition since 2022. Read from the full text and FDA's summary of changes:

• A written employee illness policy (2-501.11). The permit holder must have one, "available upon request", covering the symptoms staff must report (diarrhea, vomiting, sore throat with fever, jaundice, infected wounds), the diagnoses (norovirus, hepatitis A, Shigella, typhoid fever, non-typhoidal Salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli), and when staff are excluded, restricted and allowed back. It is a Priority Foundation item, and FDA calls it "a new requirement in the 2026 Food Code for all food establishments".
• A written food safety management system (8-201.15). Required "within four years" of your regulator adopting the 2026 Code, kept in use during all hours and shown on request. Low-risk operations may be exempted. FDA adds guidance for building one (Supporting Document AA).
• Gloves. A loose outer glove may be worn over an inner single-use glove when your regulator approves it (3-304.15).
• Cooling. A new cooling method and a route for the regulator to approve an alternative (3-501.15).
• Smaller items. No jewelry on arms and hands except a plain ring and medical devices; covered waste bins in every toilet room; a minimum 75°F for some chemical sanitizers.

None of this applies to you until your state or city adopts the 2026 Code. FDA's adoption report (content current 29 October 2026) counts adoption to 31 December 2025:

The 14 states on the 2022 Code at the end of 2025: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah and Virginia. Write the illness policy now anyway: every recent edition already requires staff to report these illnesses, so the written policy mostly puts your current rules on paper.

Pre-inspection checklist you can copy

Run this weekly, and on any day you expect an inspector. It follows the violations above in order of how often they are cited.

PRE-INSPECTION CHECKLIST            Date ________  Checked by ________

TEMPERATURES (probe, do not read the dial)
[ ] Every cold unit: food at 41°F or below. Log: ____ ____ ____ ____
[ ] Hot holding: 135°F or above (NYC: 140°F). Log: ____ ____
[ ] Cooling: anything cooked today hit 70°F within 2 hours?
[ ] Probe thermometer calibrated and in the chef's pocket

SANITIZING
[ ] Sanitizer buckets at the right strength (test strip, not smell)
[ ] Wiping cloths in sanitizer between uses, not on the counter
[ ] Dish machine or 3-compartment sink reaching its sanitizing level
[ ] Cutting boards, slicers, can opener blade washed and sanitized

PESTS
[ ] No droppings under equipment, in dry store or behind the bar
[ ] Gaps around pipes and doors sealed; door sweeps intact
[ ] Pest control contract and latest service report on site

HANDWASHING
[ ] Every hand sink: soap, paper towels, warm water, nothing stored in it
[ ] Handwashing sign at each sink

FOOD PROTECTION
[ ] Everything covered, labeled and off the floor
[ ] Raw meat below ready-to-eat food
[ ] Ready-to-eat food over 24 hours old date marked (7-day limit)

PAPERWORK (inspectors ask)
[ ] Food protection manager certificate on site for each shift
[ ] Food handler and allergen training records (Chicago cites both)
[ ] Written employee illness policy, signed by staff
[ ] Vomit and diarrhea clean-up procedure and kit
[ ] Permit and last inspection report posted as required

FACILITY
[ ] No leaks, standing water or broken tiles; drains clear
[ ] Lights shielded and working; vents clean
[ ] Bins covered, including in staff toilets

A starter employee illness policy, to adapt with your health department's rules:

EMPLOYEE ILLNESS POLICY: [Restaurant name]

1. Tell the manager on duty before your shift if you have: diarrhea,
   vomiting, sore throat with fever, yellow skin or eyes, or an infected
   cut or burn on your hands or arms.
2. Tell us if a doctor diagnoses you with norovirus, hepatitis A,
   Shigella, typhoid fever, Salmonella or Shiga toxin E. coli.
3. If you have vomiting or diarrhea, do not come in. Without a
   diagnosis, you may return 24 hours after symptoms stop. With a
   diagnosis, the manager and the health department decide.
4. The manager decides whether you are excluded or restricted, records
   it, and reports diagnoses to the health department when required.
5. You will not be disciplined for reporting illness.

Staff signature ________  Date ________  Reviewed every year: ________

Check the return-to-work rules with your local health department; they vary.

What happens if you fail?

In New York City, a score of 14 or more on the initial inspection is not a final grade: the restaurant is inspected again, and in our data B and C grades appear only after re-inspection. In Chicago, 86% of routine re-inspections passed outright, against 59% of first visits. Either way the path is the same: fix the cited items, keep proof (a pest control invoice, a repair receipt, a temperature log), and walk the checklist again before the inspector returns.

A failed inspection also costs money in food thrown out and covers lost. Our restaurant inventory sheet and recipe costing guide help you see the loss in dollars, and the cost to open a restaurant covers budgeting for a pre-opening inspection. Running a UK site? See the food hygiene rating guide.

Can TablePort handle this for you?

TablePort carries the allergen and order details from the menu to the station that cooks the dish.

1. Keep allergen tags on each menu item in the POS menu; QR order and pay and the kiosk show the same tags. Check them against your recipes before publishing.
2. Modifiers and notes, such as a guest's allergy note, travel with the ticket to the station that owns the dish.
3. Run a kitchen display with live timers on every ticket, so the pass sees what is running behind.

One honest limit: TablePort does not log fridge or hot-holding temperatures and is not a food safety management system. Keep your temperature logs and written procedures on paper or a dedicated tool. See the POS page.