Know Before You Dine

Foodborne illness is far more common than most people realize. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 48 million Americans get sick from contaminated food every year — roughly 1 in 6 people. Of those, 128,000 are hospitalized and nearly 3,000 die. These aren't abstract statistics — they represent people who ate at restaurants without knowing what was happening in the kitchen.

Restaurant health inspections exist to catch violations before they cause harm. Inspectors look for issues like improper food storage temperatures, cross-contamination between raw and cooked foods, evidence of pests, poor employee hygiene, and unsanitary equipment. When a restaurant scores poorly, it signals that conditions existed which could — under the right circumstances — make a customer sick.

Most people choose restaurants based on reviews, price, and convenience. Health inspection scores are public record, but finding them has historically required navigating separate county health department websites — many of which are difficult to use or poorly maintained. InspectorEats aggregates this data into one searchable place so that food safety is as easy to check as reading any other review.