Food Protection Program
Understanding Web Reporting of Electronic Food Inspection Reports

Lake County businesses selling, preparing and/or serving food are required to be licensed by the Lake County General Health District (LCGHD) and meet the requirements of the Ohio Uniform Food Safety Code. Once licensed, businesses must be inspected to assure they comply with food rules that protect the health of the public. Restaurants, grocery stores, school cafeterias, daycare centers, nursing homes and hospitals all require appropriate licensing and inspection.

Ohio categorizes retail food businesses according to risk levels, with the risk being the complexity of food preparation and other factors with potential to cause foodborne illness. The licensing year is from March 1 to the last day of February the following year.

License fees and inspection frequency are based on the four risk classes below:

Risk Level

Inspections per year

Practices

Examples

I

1 Routine

Prepackaged food

Snacks or candy at retail stores

II

1 Routine

Limited food handling

Ice cream stores, some bakeries

III

2 Routine

Cutting, slicing, heating, holding and/or cooling foods

Fast food restaurants, some schools, pizza shops

IV

2 Routine

+2 CCP/PR

Complex food handling processes, reheating in bulk, or serves high risk population

Full service restaurants, nursing homes, hospitals, catering companies

Food Service Operation: A location where food is served, ready to eat, in individual portions.

Retail Food Establishment: A location where food is stored, processed, or prepared for retail sale.

Types of Inspections

Routine or Standard: This comprehensive inspection is conducted to evaluate if the business is following the requirements of Ohio food rules

Follow-up: This inspection is conducted to recheck on critical violations that were noted in a previous routine inspection.

Critical Control Point (CCP): An in-depth inspection for risk level IV Food Service Operations (FSO) that closely follows the flow of food and looks for potential problems in the process that may lead to foodborne illness.

Process Review (PR): Conducted at a Retail Food Operation (RFE), this is similar to the Critical Control Point inspection above.

Complaint Investigation: This inspection may selectively examine the conditions associated with the nature of the complaint.

Foodborne Illness: In the event a foodborne illness was suspected to originate at a food facility, the inspection would focus on the conditions which may have contributed to the illness.

Elements of an inspection may include:

Assuring approved food source(s)

Prevention of cross contamination of food of equipment

Use of proper cooking and cooling processes

Safe hot and cold holding temperatures

Employee education, health and hygiene

Proper storage of food, paper products, and chemicals

Violations

Critical Violation: These practices may cause food to become contaminated or cause someone to become ill.

Non-critical Violation: These violations are less likely to cause illness and may be a cleaning or maintenance issue, and many times are easily corrected.

For additional Food Safety information please visit our website at lcghd.org.

January 2014