The Food Protection Program inspects all licensed retail food establishments in Howard County for a variety of reasons (e.g. obtaining a permit, regular check-ups, or in response to complaints.)  Included in this overall surveillance are two types of inspections that are conducted on a routine basis.  The first type, an environmental inspection, is a thorough inspection that evaluates the sanitation, maintenance, and food service operations for the facility.  This inspection includes many of the items found in the monitoring inspection, such as critical temperatures and food handling procedures.  The second type, a monitoring inspection, involves checking the food service operation for critical food temperatures, equipment temperatures, and general food handling / cleanliness practices.  While monitoring inspections are not as detailed as environmental inspections, they help ensure that the facility is operating safely throughout the year.

The frequency of inspections is based on the food-borne illness risks associated with the food being processed at a facility.  Based on the risk each facility is designated as high, medium, or low priority.  High priority risk facilities prepare food products a day or more in advance and utilize any combination of two or more processes such as a cooking, cooling, reheating and hot holding food over four hours.  Moderate priority risk facilities prepare and cook food products which are served immediately or within four hours.  A low priority risk facility serve prepackage foods that are not potentially hazardous.

For high risk facilities, a monitoring inspection is conducted at least twice a year, and moderate risk facilities are inspected at least once a year.  High and moderate risk facilities also receive at least one environmental inspection every year.   Low risk priority facilities typically receive one environmental inspection every two years.