How Pass or Fail Works
Pass or Fail collects restaurant health inspection records from public-health authorities across Canada and puts them in one searchable place. This page explains what an inspection actually checks, what the outcomes mean, and what this data can and can’t tell you before you decide where to eat.
What a health inspection actually checks
When a public-health inspector visits a restaurant, they’re looking for things that could make you sick. The big ones: food kept at unsafe temperatures, pests, dirty equipment, employees who haven’t been trained in proper food handling, and cross-contamination between raw and cooked items. Inspectors take notes, sometimes photos, and write up a report. That report is what ends up here.
A typical inspection covers:
- Cold and hot holding temperatures (cold food under 4 °C, hot food over 60 °C)
- Hand-washing facilities and whether staff actually use them
- Cleanliness of food-contact surfaces, utensils, and equipment
- Evidence of pests: mice, cockroaches, fruit flies, droppings
- Food storage practices (raw meat below ready-to-eat food, lids on containers, dates on labels)
- Food-handler certification, where required by the local jurisdiction
Note that none of this measures the food itself. The grade is on the kitchen.
How different authorities report results
Canadian health authorities don’t share a single vocabulary for inspection results. Pass or Fail covers nine different reporting schemes. The original label from the source authority is shown alongside the record on every restaurant page, so you can see exactly what the inspector wrote.
Pass / Conditional pass / Closed. Used by most Ontario authorities: Toronto Public Health (DineSafe), Peel, the Region of Waterloo, and Hamilton Public Health Services. York Region uses the same three categories but labels its positive outcome “Satisfactory” instead of “Pass.”
- Pass: no critical violations, or only minor issues that don’t pose an immediate risk.
- Conditional pass: violations were found that the operator must correct within a set period. An inspector returns to verify. Common triggers include a broken dishwasher, an out-of-temperature cooler, no soap at the hand-wash station, or evidence of pests that needs follow-up.
- Closed: the inspector ordered the kitchen to stop serving customers until issues are corrected. Rare. Triggers include active pest infestation, sewage backup, no running water, repeated failure to fix a previous violation, or an outbreak of foodborne illness traced to the premises.
Green / Yellow / Red. Used by Ottawa Public Health.
Ottawa colour-codes each inspection: Green (no significant violations), Yellow (issues found that the operator must correct), or Red (the inspector ordered the premises closed). The specific violations from each visit are listed alongside the colour.
In compliance / Not in compliance / Closed. Used by Alberta Health Services Environmental Public Health across Alberta.
AHS records each inspection as In compliance (no outstanding violations), Not in compliance (one or more violations not corrected on site), or Closed (the inspector ordered the premises closed). The specific violations from each visit are listed alongside the result.
Has Infractions / No Infractions / Closed. Used by Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) for the Vancouver area, the North Shore, and the Sea-to-Sky corridor, and by Interior Health (IHA) across the BC Interior.
These authorities flag each inspection with a Has Infractions status. Pass or Fail shows that as No Infractions (none found on the visit), Has Infractions (one or more found), or — rarely — Closed when the inspector orders the premises shut. The specific infractions from each visit are listed alongside the result.
Violations list (no overall category). Used by the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) for London.
This authority doesn’t publish a single pass-or-fail label for each visit. The report lists specific violations and notes whether each was corrected on the spot. A report with no listed violations means none were recorded that day. Pass or Fail shows the full violation list on each restaurant page.
Low / Moderate / High hazard rating. Used by Island Health (VIHA) on Vancouver Island.
VIHA assigns each premise a hazard rating that reflects the inherent risk of its operation, not the result of a single visit. A High rating doesn’t mean the kitchen is dirty. It means the type of food handled places the premise in a higher-risk category that VIHA monitors more closely. Specific violations from each visit are listed alongside the rating.
In compliance / Not in compliance. Used by Halton Region Public Health (Burlington, Oakville, Milton, and Halton Hills).
Each visit is shown as In compliance when no infractions were recorded, or Not in compliance when one or more were. The specific infractions from the visit are listed alongside the result.
In compliance / Not in compliance / Closed. Used by the Saskatchewan Health Authority via the provincial Inspection InSite portal (Saskatoon, Regina, Moose Jaw, Prince Albert).
The Inspection InSite portal tags each violation category with a Not in compliance label. A visit with no violations recorded means the operator was in compliance on that day.
Convictions only. Used for Québec restaurants. Montréal data comes from the city’s open-data portal; the rest of the province comes from the MAPAQ provincial dataset.
Québec doesn’t publish routine inspection results. The only public food-safety records are court convictions under the Food Products Act (Loi sur les produits alimentaires, P-29). A Québec restaurant page with no record doesn’t mean the kitchen is clean. It means the operator hasn’t been convicted of a food-safety offence.
How often inspections happen
Frequency varies by authority and by the kind of food a place serves. Some authorities publish their inspection schedules openly. Many adjust visits in response to complaints, outbreaks, or recent violations.
If you see a string of inspections close together on a restaurant’s page here, it’s usually because something prompted the follow-up.
Critical vs non-critical violations
Most reports list each violation found, often with a severity tag.
A critical violation has a direct connection to foodborne illness. Examples: food held at a temperature that lets bacteria grow, raw poultry stored above ready-to-eat food, employees handling food without washing their hands, a confirmed pest problem.
A non-critical violation matters but isn’t an immediate danger. Examples: a chipped cutting board, a dirty floor in the storage area, a missing thermometer in a fridge, faded signage.
The number of violations isn’t always the right signal. A restaurant with eight non-critical issues might be safer than one with a single critical one. Pass or Fail shows both numbers so you can decide for yourself.
How follow-up visits work
When an inspector finds a violation that needs correcting, a follow-up visit is typically scheduled. The interval depends on the authority and the severity of the violation. On the return visit, the inspector checks whether the specific issues from the last report have been fixed.
In our data, you’ll see each visit listed separately in the inspection history. A flagged inspection followed quickly by a clean one usually means the operator handled the issue and the kitchen is back in good standing.
What this data can’t tell you
A health inspection is a snapshot of one day. Conditions change. A restaurant that passed last month might be in the middle of a rough week today. A restaurant cited for a critical violation in 2022 might have new owners, new staff, and a spotless kitchen now.
Pass or Fail doesn’t audit the data. We mirror what the health authority publishes. If we have a record wrong, the source authority’s record is authoritative. If you find an error, write to us at contact@passorfail.ca and we’ll look into it.
Inspections also don’t measure things you might care about: how the food tastes, whether the service was good, whether the menu has the dish you want. They measure whether the kitchen meets the minimum legal standard for food safety. That’s a useful floor. It isn’t a substitute for your own judgment.
More
See the About page for the full list of health authorities we currently cover, or the Terms of Use for accuracy and timeliness limitations.