Inspections usually come without warning, so it helps to run through this every few weeks.
Probe your own food first
The inspector is going to probe the food, so beat them to it. Pick something from the top shelf by the walk-in door, then something from each reach-in and the prep table rails. Cold food has to be at 41 F or below. If anything’s over, figure out why now, while it’s just you looking.
Check the freezers while you’re at it. They should be at 0 F or colder.
Prep table rails deserve an extra look. The pans up top sit open to kitchen air all day, and pans that are overfilled or sticking up above the rail tend to run warm, as does a table whose lid stays open through a slow afternoon. Lower the pans, fill them a little less and close the lid when the line’s quiet. Then see if the next reading comes down.
Thermometers and logs
Each cooler holding cold food should have a thermometer that’s easy to read. Make sure every unit has one and that it’s close to what your probe says, since cheap dial thermometers drift. If your team keeps logs, check that they’re filled in as they go and not from memory on Friday. Our guide on walk-in temperatures and the health code has more on this.
A walk around the equipment
Torn or moldy door gaskets get noticed, and they’re letting warm air in anyway. Wipe them down and replace any that are torn. Look for ice building on the evaporator coil or around freezer doors, and for water dripping from the coil onto product. Keep everything up on shelving instead of on the walk-in floor. Then open the ice machine bin and shine a flashlight up where the ice drops, because slime there is easy for an inspector to spot. If it’s been a while, our page on cleaning ice machines covers the schedule.
If something needs fixing
A torn gasket or a cooler running a couple of degrees warm is a lot easier to deal with before an inspection than after one. When you find something that needs a tech, call and describe what you’re seeing. For keeping records between inspections, see the temperature monitoring and compliance page.
