Make sure your food vendor has a Public Health permit to avoid foodborne illness

May 21, 2025.Reading time 9 minutes.

The best way to protect yourself from foodborne illnesses when you’re eating out is to only buy food from businesses that have a food safety rating sign – the green smiley face signs. These signs mean that a business has a Public Health food permit, which is an important step in the process to make sure a business is safely serving food.

Public Health’s food safety rating system is expanding! Here’s what to expect.

December 16, 2024.Reading time 4 minutes.

As 2025 approaches, we have great news for food lovers across King County. Public Health’s popular food safety rating system – the green smiley face signs in restaurant windows – is expanding to include more food businesses.

Looking for restaurant ratings online? We have a new search tool!

April 19, 2017.Reading time 8 minutes.

Full inspection histories of all King County restaurants have been available online since 2001. For the past 16 years, inspection results could be searched on a website that, we admit, was starting to show its age. That’s why we partnered with King County Information Technology (KCIT) to create a restaurant inspection search tool to […]

Finding my way into restaurant kitchens: a Food Inspector Story

April 3, 2017.Reading time 8 minutes.

For National Public Health Week (April 3-7th), we’re celebrating by featuring unsung public health heroes who make our communities safer and healthier. Each day, we’ll highlight a public health worker through their own words, sharing their work and why they’re committed to serving our community. To kick off the week we spoke with one of […]

What if a restaurant doesn’t have a window? Where to look for food safety rating window signs

March 22, 2017.Reading time 8 minutes.

Have you seen the emojis in the windows of restaurants? They’re our new Food Safety Rating System “window signs” to help people know how restaurants are doing with their food safety practices. But not every restaurant has a window or even a front door. You may ask, “Where are those restaurants supposed to post their […]

How many restaurants have a food safety rating? 300 and counting!

February 2, 2017.Reading time 5 minutes.

It has been two weeks since we launched the Food Safety Rating System. Have you seen the new restaurant window signs? If you haven’t, you will soon. The new system is rolling out across King County in four phases throughout 2017. We divided King County into four geographic areas. When a new phase of the […]