Look up a state  /  VA

Restaurant inspections in Virginia

Who inspects, where the record lives, what the public actually sees, and whether it has to be posted on the door. Every line below links to the government source it came from.

Violation list only One statewide program Required to be posted
  • 01

    Who inspects

    Statewide agency operating through its own local health districts: the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) Food Safety program, staffed by Environmental Health Specialists in each health district; the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services covers retail food stores Agency page

  • 02

    What the public sees

    A narrative violation list (critical and non-critical violations) with permit status; no letter grade or posted score. Source

  • 03

    Posting the result

    Required to be posted. Establishments must post a customer notice, conspicuous to customers, stating that a copy of the most recent VDH inspection report is available on request and giving the inspection website; no grade or score is posted. Rule

  • 04

    Food code in force

    2017 FDA Food Code. The FDA Food Code is a model, not a federal mandate — each state decides which edition to adopt and how far to amend it.

Worth knowing. The state open-data listing points back to the health department's inspection site rather than a bulk file. VDH says CSV and Excel files are available on request to ehdministrators@vdh.virginia.gov. Virginia completed rulemaking to adopt the 2022 Food Code effective February 2025.
Official inspection lookups — Virginia
Where to searchCoverage
Virginia centralized health inspection resultsStatewide
05

If you run the restaurant

The record is public either way. The useful move is to read it before a customer does.

Step one

Pull your own record

Search yourself in the lookup above and read every line of the last three reports. Repeat violations are what escalate.

Step two

Work the ten risk factors

Most citations trace back to the same ten practices the FDA measures nationally. Run the ten-minute self-check.

Step three

Fix, document, re-inspect

Dated photos and a written correction log are what a re-inspection rewards. What to do after a bad inspection.

Improved a bad record in Virginia?

Our recognition program is for recovery, not for perfection. Nominations for the inaugural class are open.

See how recognition works