Restaurant Self-Audit Checklist

Hygiene items are the ones self-audits soften, because enforcing them is socially costly. The camera column exists for exactly these rows: a photo of the line answers the hair-restraint question in one frame, with no note-field hedging.

1. A person in charge is on site and performing the role for every open hour.Field
2. At least one Certified Food Protection Manager, certificate current and on site; every handler carries a valid food handler card.Treat this as a license item, not a control: FDA's own study found CFPM status made no statistically significant difference to compliance once management-system quality was accounted for.LA County
3. A written illness-reporting system exists and staff can describe it: vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, or sore throat with fever reports to the person in charge before the shift.Audit the system, not the individual: photograph the posted policy; the reporting itself is unobservable.Food Code
4. No uncovered sores, cuts, splints, or bandages on hands handling food.LA County
5. Hair restraints on everyone whose work can contaminate exposed food or clean equipment; beverage-only counter staff, hosts, and wait staff exempt at minimal risk.2-402.11, with the exemption that resolves most arguments about this row.Food Code
6. No jewelry on hands and arms except a plain ring such as a wedding band.2-303.11 is narrower than most house rules: the code allows only the plain ring; watches and bracelets are out while preparing food.Food Code
7. Fingernails trimmed, filed, clean; no polish or artificial nails without gloves.LA County
8. Clean outer clothing and aprons.Field
9. Eating, drinking, and tobacco only in designated areas; a closed beverage container handled properly is permitted.2-401.11 corrects the common no-drinks overreach: closed containers handled correctly are legal. The open cup on the prep table is the violation, and it photographs perfectly.Food Code
10. Handwashing occurs at every required point: before prep, after the restroom, after raw product, after touching body or clothing, after coughing or tissues, after soiled equipment, on task change, on raw-to-ready switches, before gloving.The most consequential item on the audit and the least photographable. CDC-network observers found workers washed appropriately in only 27 percent of the activities that called for it. What a photo does prove is the precondition: the accessible, stocked hand sink.Food Code
11. Handwashing quality, not just occurrence: soap, warm water, 15 seconds, single-use towels.LA County
12. Single-use gloves changed between tasks, discarded when damaged, soiled, or interrupted.LA County

The federal risk-factor study of 821 restaurants found full-service kitchens out of compliance on holding time and temperature in 95 percent of observations. This block is where the audit is won or lost.

1. Cold TCS food at 41F or below; hot at 135F or above.Photograph the probe in the product with the pan label visible, or the number floats free of the food.Food Code
2. Every holding unit carries a permanently affixed, readable temperature display.Food Code
3. Cooling meets the two-stage rule: 135F to 70F in 2 hours, to 41F within 6 total; 4 hours to 41F for ambient-ingredient prep.A time series needs a log with two timestamped readings; no single image shows a curve.Food Code
4. An approved cooling method in use: shallow pans, small portions, ice bath with stirring, rapid-cool equipment.Six inches of chili in a bus tub is a finding all by itself, and it photographs.LA County
5. Cooking minimums spot-checked: 145F fish and intact cuts, 155F ground meat, 165F poultry and stuffed items, 15 seconds each.LA County
6. Reheating for hot holding reaches 165F for 15 seconds, within 2 hours.LA County
7. If using Time as a Public Health Control: every item marked with its 4-hour discard time, expired items discarded, written procedure on site.The mark on the pan is the whole control, and it photographs perfectly.LA County
8. Approved thawing only: refrigeration, running water within 2 hours, microwave, or as part of cooking. Nothing on the counter, nothing refrozen.LA County
9. Ready-to-eat TCS food held over 24 hours is date-marked: prep day is Day 1, 7 days maximum at 41F or below.One of the few places a photo is genuinely weaker than a process control: it proves a legible label exists, not that the date is honest.Food Code

1. Ready-to-eat food stored above and separate from raw animal product in every unit, prep wells included; frozen packaged raw may sit with frozen packaged ready-to-eat.The highest-value single photo in a food-safety audit.Food Code
2. Bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food minimized: tongs, deli tissue, gloves.LA County
3. Sanitizer at approved concentration with the correct test kit on site, read rather than assumed.The wet strip against the chart.Field
4. Three-compartment sink correctly set when active: wash at 100F, rinse, sanitize with contact time honored (chlorine 30 seconds, iodine and quat 1 minute); sink fits the largest item.An empty middle compartment is a finding.LA County
5. Utensils air-dried, never cloth-dried.LA County
6. Food-contact surfaces cleaned and sanitized at least every 4 hours in continuous use.Food Code
7. Every hand sink accessible, handwashing-only, stocked, warm water 100F to 108F.Field
8. Chemicals separated, never above food or equipment, labeled if decanted.Food Code
9. No live pest activity; old evidence logged separately from active (they score differently); doors self-closing and tight; gaps sealed.Field
10. Consumer advisory in writing wherever raw or undercooked animal food is served.Food Code
11. Food from approved sources, invoices retained and producible.LA County

1. Food and clean items at least six inches above the floor on approved racks.Field
2. Decanted foods in working containers labeled with the common name.LA County
3. Self-service areas have sneeze guards and correct dispensing utensils.LA County
4. All equipment clean, in repair, and ANSI-certified (NSF, ETL, UL, CSA); dead equipment repaired, replaced, or removed.Photograph the NSF plate: a detail almost no self-audit checks.LA County
5. Wiping-cloth discipline: raw-protein cloths separate, reusable cloths held in sanitizer, buckets stored away from clean items.Field
6. Thermometers calibrated, available, in repair.LA County
7. Hood, grease filters, and make-up vents clean and maintained; every grease producer under the correct hood; light fixtures shielded.LA County
8. Restrooms clean, stocked, ventilated, self-closing doors, covered sanitary receptacle.Field
9. Plumbing in repair: one-inch air gap at floor sinks, faucet reaches all compartments, drains flowing, grease trap functional.The air gap is the sleeper item: almost nobody audits it, and one close-up settles it.LA County
10. Floors, walls, ceilings, windows clean and in repair; refuse separate; janitorial stored separately; lids closed.LA County

1. Current grade card and public notification posted where consumers see them.LA County
2. The most recent official inspection report on site and producible.LA County
3. Public health permit posted conspicuously.LA County
4. Temperature, cooling, sanitizer, and cleaning logs complete for the period, with gaps identified rather than backfilled.A photo shows a filled log, not whether it was filled contemporaneously. Contemporaneity is the whole question, which is why timestamped field photos and logs are complements, not substitutes.Field
5. Written procedures for any variance, HACCP plan, or reduced-oxygen packaging maintained and available.LA County
6. Every failed item from the previous self-audit has a named owner, a due date, and a closing record.An audit with no closed loop is a mood, not a control.Field