Most common restaurant inspection violations in Los Angeles (2026)

We counted every violation cited at routine restaurant inspections in Los Angeles from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, once per inspection. The share is the part of all 6,254 inspections that cited it. Codes and points are the County's. Its inspection guide sorts violations into critical risk factors, which cost 2 or 4 points, in some cases 11 when a major one suspends the permit, and good retail practices, which cost 1.

What each one means

F145 Floors, walls or ceilings not built, maintained or clean

Dirty or damaged floors, walls or ceilings, such as missing floor drain covers, broken grout or damaged ceiling panels.

F136 Equipment not approved, in poor repair or too small

Equipment or utensils not approved, not installed properly, in poor repair or too small for the job.

F134 Non-food contact surfaces not clean

Dust, dirt, grease or food debris on shelves, door gaskets, cabinets and other equipment surfaces that do not touch food.

F137 Equipment, utensils or linens stored wrong

Utensils, equipment or linens not stored or used the way the rules require.

F141 Plumbing, fixtures, backflow devices or drainage

Plumbing or fixtures in poor repair, a missing backflow device where one is required, or poor drainage.

F140 Wiping cloths used or stored wrong

Wiping cloths not kept in a sanitizing solution when they should be, used for another purpose, or a sanitizer bucket at the wrong strength.

F115 Food contact surfaces not clean and sanitized

Cutting boards, utensils or equipment that touch food and are not kept clean and sanitized, or a way to sanitize them that does not work.

F138 Ventilation, lighting or designated areas

Dirty or inadequate ventilation hoods, poor lighting, or areas not used as designated.

F144 Premises, personal items or vermin proofing

Personal or cleaning items stored in the wrong place, no dressing area, or gaps that let vermin in.

F107 Handwashing sinks not adequate

Too few handwashing sinks, a sink staff cannot reach, or a sink out of soap or single-use towels.

Counted by points instead of inspections, the order changes. Food contact surfaces took 4,950 of the 41,271 points off (12%), insects, rodents and animals 3,623 (9%) and hot and cold holding 3,076 (7%). What to check before service in each of these areas is in the restaurant health inspection checklist.

The County has one code for hot and cold holding, so its data cannot split them. Codes F108 and F110 together were cited at 1,123 of 6,254 routine inspections (18%). The same two items ran under the older codes F007 and F009 until the fall of 2025, and we count each pair as one.

The 1,123 is holding and cooling together. With time as a public health control it is 1,289 (21%). Of the 4,886 restaurants inspected, one cited in more than one row counts once in each.

The inspector sees one visit, and writes the temperatures taken in the report's Measured Observations section. A log shows the days in between. On paper or in an app, these are the parts of a temperature log that matter for hot and cold holding and cooling:

• A reading at set times. Each cooler and hot holding unit, at the times your plan sets, for example at opening and before dinner service.
• The limit next to the reading. In Los Angeles, 41°F for cold holding and 135°F for hot holding.
• A corrective action for every reading out of range. What was done, and who did it.
• A name and a time on every entry. A reading is written when it is taken, not from memory at the end of the week.

Patrono keeps temperature logs and checklists in the browser on any phone, tablet or computer. Your staff enter each reading by hand. A reading out of range cannot be saved without a corrective action. A saved temperature record cannot be edited or deleted, and a correction is a new entry next to the original. Every record keeps who entered it and when, and an owner or manager can print any month's log for a location.

If you keep logs on paper, our refrigerator and freezer log, hot holding log and cooling log use the same 41°F and 135°F limits as California's code. We email each one as a fillable PDF and a Word file.

Every inspection starts at 100 and the County takes points off. The score it publishes is 100 minus the points of the violations cited: that holds at 6,530 of 6,530 Los Angeles restaurant inspections in this period, and the letter fits the bands below at 6,530 of 6,530. The City of Los Angeles adopted the County's grading system in 1998. The rules on this page are as the County stated them on November 2, 2026, on its grading and posting page and in its Retail Food Inspection Guide.

The County describes each band by food handling practices and overall food facility maintenance:

The points. A critical risk factor is either major, 4 points, or minor, 2. A good retail practice is 1. In some cases, when a major violation suspends the permit, the County takes 7 more, 11 in all.

What two major violations do. The County's guide adds a line of its own, 3 more points, for two or more major 4-point violations on one report. It was on 204 of the 211 reports in this count that had them. So two majors cost 11, and 89 is a B even with nothing else on the report. 205 routine inspections (3%) carried that line, and all of them ended below an A. The County leaves it off when the permit is suspended for no water, sewage or vermin.

What 11 points do. On its own that is an 89, a B. 229 routine inspections (4%) carried an 11-point violation, and none of them ended with an A. 219 of those were for vermin.

The line at 90. 644 routine inspections (10%) ended on exactly 90, the lowest score that still earns an A. On those reports, one more 1-point item is the difference between an A and a B.

Below a C. A score below 70 gets a score card with the number on it, not a letter. The County's guide lists a score below 70 at a routine or owner initiated inspection among the imminent health hazards that can close a restaurant and suspend its permit, and all 19 in this count also cited a permit suspension. A restaurant that scores below 70 twice within 12 months is, in the County's words, "subject to closure and further legal action."

Closure. The guide's imminent health hazards also include a vermin infestation, no water, a sewage backup, unsafe food temperatures, food contact surfaces that cannot be cleaned and sanitized, no working toilets, staff unable to wash their hands and a food employee with a communicable disease. A vermin infestation closes the restaurant for at least 48 hours. The inspector posts a notice of closure on the entrance door, and it stays until the inspector reopens the restaurant. 236 routine inspections (4%) cited the County's category for a permit suspended, revoked or modified, and 218 of those also carried an 11-point violation.

Posting the card. The inspector issues the card at the end of every routine inspection. It goes where it is clearly visible to the public and to patrons, and it stays up until the next routine inspection. A copy of your latest inspection report has to be available to anyone who asks, and a sign has to say so.

Re-inspection. A major violation has to be corrected before the inspection ends, and the County comes back within 14 calendar days. Minor violations get up to 14 calendar days, though some have to be corrected before the inspection ends, and good retail practices 14 to 30. When violations are still not corrected, the second re-inspection and any after it are charged. The County's fee schedule for fiscal year 2026-27 lists a billable re-inspection at $145. A repeat or uncorrected violation can also bring a Notification of Intent to Suspend the permit (64 routine inspections in this count), and you then have 15 days to request a hearing.

Re-score. If you are not satisfied with your score or grade, you can request an owner initiated inspection, once in a 12-month period, if you are eligible. You ask within 3 business days of the routine inspection and pay within 10 calendar days of asking, and the County inspects within 10 calendar days of the payment. Its score and grade supersede the earlier ones. The fee schedule for fiscal year 2026-27 lists $330 for a low-risk restaurant, $391 for moderate risk and $440 for high risk. 276 owner initiated inspections of Los Angeles restaurants fall in this period, and 260 of them ended with an A (94%).

How often they come. The County sets the routine inspections by risk: three a year for high risk, such as full-service restaurants, two for moderate risk, such as limited menus and fast food chains, and one for low risk. An A came at 87% of 3,807 high-risk inspections in this count, 94% of 1,850 moderate-risk and 97% of 597 low-risk.

Disputes. A permit holder can ask a supervisor at the local Environmental Health office to review the report, and the County's Office of the Ombudsman takes concerns about grades, scores and the inspection process.

4,090 of the 6,254 routine inspections (65%) cited at least one critical risk factor.

1,872 of 6,254 routine inspections (30%) cited at least one of these four codes. You can fix them before the inspector walks in:

• Food safety certification (code F102, 1,083 citations, 2 points). A certified food protection manager with a valid certificate, and a valid food handler card for each food employee after their first 30 days. California law asks for a certified food protection manager at each food facility, and the County's guide cites one manager covering locations that are not next to each other, so each of your locations needs its own.
• Demonstration of knowledge (code F101, 263 citations, 2 points). The person in charge or a food employee can show they know the food safety rules for their assigned tasks.
• Signs, grade card and last inspection report (code F147, 188 citations, 1 point). The grade or score card and the permit properly posted, the required signs up and the latest report available.
• Permits (code F148, 679 citations, 1 point). A valid public health permit that covers what you actually do.

Keep the cards, certificates and permit in one place, and check them when someone new starts.

• Source. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health's two open data files, Environmental Health Restaurant and Market Inspections 10/01/2023 to 09/30/2026 and Environmental Health Restaurant and Market Violations 10/01/2023 to 09/30/2026, on the County's open data portal, as of October 6, 2026, the day the County last modified them. The County's terms of use license the data for commercial and personal use, and do not allow any use that suggests the County endorses it.
• Period. Inspections dated October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026: the last 12 full months in the file. The County updates these files quarterly with the previous three years, so this page does not read the County's data more often than that. It prints the file as of October 6, 2026, and we count again when the County publishes the next one. The 12-month period then moves forward with it.
• Los Angeles. The County's files cover its unincorporated areas and 85 of its 88 cities. Pasadena, Long Beach and Vernon have their own health departments, and the County leaves them out. We count the inspections whose city the County records as Los Angeles, which is the address on file, not the city limits. Addresses recorded under another name, such as North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks or Venice, are not in this count, though many of them sit inside the city limits. All of the County's restaurants, counted the same way: 89% ended with an A, 17,494 of 19,611, and 19% cited hot or cold holding or cooling. 38 of those County rows still carry Pasadena, Long Beach or Vernon as their city, and none of them are in the Los Angeles count.
• Restaurants. The County's program descriptions that start with RESTAURANT: four seat ranges (0 to 30, 31 to 60, 61 to 150, 151 or more) at three risk levels (low, moderate, high), one County facility ID per restaurant. So a bar or coffee shop under one of those descriptions can be in the count. Food markets, caterers, food warehouses, wholesale food processors, remote storage, school cafeterias and interim housing have their own descriptions and are not. Food trucks are not in these files.
• Routine inspections. The file lists two types, routine inspections and owner initiated inspections. We count routine inspections, because an owner asks for the other kind after a score they were not satisfied with. Follow-up re-inspections are not in the file.
• Counting. An inspection is one County serial number. The violations file has one row per violation, and a code counts once per inspection, so 19 repeat rows count once. At each new file we count every row of both files twice, once from the inspections to the violations and once the other way round, and the two counts have to match. Ranks include the County's enforcement categories 51 to 53.
• Code pairs. The same violation runs under two codes in the file. The County's guide, last updated in October 2025, numbers its report's categories 1 to 53, and code F108 carries the title of category 8, hot and cold holding. The older code F007 carries the same title with an older item number, "# 07." Across every program in the file, the older codes all but stop at the start of October 2025 and the newer ones take over, so we read this as the County renumbering its report and count each pair as one. The County does not say so in those words. 137 of the 28,022 violation rows in this count carry an older code. 4 carry a code from another County form, which counts toward the score and is not ranked.
• The score and the grade. The County's page says the points are deducted from 100 and gives the bands, so we checked both against its rows. The score equals 100 minus the points at 6,530 of 6,530 Los Angeles restaurant inspections in this period, routine and owner initiated, at 20,646 of 20,664 across the County's restaurants, and at 100,335 of 100,386 across all three years and every program in the file. The letter fits the County's bands at 6,530 of 6,530. The 3-point line is on 204 of the 211 routine inspections with two or more 4-point violations and no 11-point violation.
• Critical risk and good retail. The data has no critical flag. These two words are the County's, from its guide, which files categories 1 to 24 under Critical Risk Factors and 25 to 49 under Good Retail Practices. Categories 50 to 53 are compliance and enforcement, and most of them carry no points.
• Reports after August 25, 2025. The County's inspection results page says reports for restaurant and food market inspections conducted on or after that date must be requested through a California Public Records Act request. We read that on November 2, 2026. The open data files still hold those inspections, and every inspection in this count falls after that date. The files carry the date, score, grade, codes and points, not the inspector's notes. We count what the files hold, and we did not compare them with the reports.
• What a violation is. A finding is what the inspector recorded at that visit. A permit holder can ask a supervisor to review a report, and the files do not mark that.
• Temperature groups. Hot and cold holding is code F108, cooling F110. Time as a public health control, F109, is shown separately.
• Other scopes. Routine and owner initiated inspections together: 91% ended with an A, 5,910 of 6,530, and 18% cited hot or cold holding or cooling. Counts over more years, or over only the inspections that cited a violation, give other shares.
• Rounding. Shares are rounded to the nearest whole percent from the counts shown, below 1% to one decimal.
• Use of the data. The County publishes this data for informational purposes, and says it may not be suitable for legal, engineering or surveying purposes. We use it only to count. We never use it to contact anyone.
• We never name or rank individual restaurants.

Source: County of Los Angeles, Department of Public Health, Environmental Health Division. 2026. Environmental Health Restaurant and Market Inspections 10/01/2023 to 09/30/2026 [dataset] and Environmental Health Restaurant and Market Violations 10/01/2023 to 09/30/2026 [dataset]. County of Los Angeles Open Data. Accessed November 2, 2026. The counts, groups and labels on this page are Patrono's, not the County's.

Data provided by the County of Los Angeles Public Health. The County of Los Angeles does not endorse Patrono, this page or its use of the data.