Who inspects commercial kitchens in Napa County?

Napa County Planning, Building and Environmental Services Department, Environmental Health Division — Retail Food Program is the food safety authority for Napa County. Reach them at 707-253-4540. California Retail Food Code provides the statutory base; the agency conducts inspections, scores them per local methodology, and posts results to the public.

How are inspection results communicated in Napa County?

Napa County Planning, Building and Environmental Services Department, Environmental Health Division — Retail Food Program documents inspections per letter grade methodology. Results are available to the public through the agency's published portals.

Who enforces fire and hood-cleaning rules in Napa County?

In Napa County, fire code authority rests with CAL FIRE Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit / Napa City Fire Department. Enforcement covers the 2025 California Fire Code and NFPA 96 (2021 edition) for commercial kitchen exhaust. Hood cleaning default frequency: quarterly.

What fire code edition applies in Napa County?

The 2025 California Fire Code is the adopted edition. NFPA 96 (2021) governs commercial kitchen exhaust systems. Ask CAL FIRE Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit / Napa City Fire Department whether Napa County has adopted local amendments to the 2025 California Fire Code.

Where can I verify Napa County inspection records?

Primary source: https://www.countyofnapa.org/1906/Retail-Food-Program. EvidLY ScoreTable mirrors the latest health-department-published results at https://www.getevidly.com/scoretable/california/napa.

California Health Department

Napa County commercial kitchen compliance

Napa County Planning, Building and Environmental Services Department, Environmental Health Division is the authority. Here's the methodology, the thresholds, and the fire code overlay.

Authority chain

Napa County → Napa County Planning, Building and Environmental Services Department, Environmental Health Division — Retail Food Program → California Retail Food Code

Napa County applies the statutory framework of the California Retail Food Code. City of Napa Fire: (707) 257-9508. CAL FIRE Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit for unincorporated areas.

Standard 01

Food Safety

Authority

Napa County Planning, Building and Environmental Services Department, Environmental Health Division — Retail Food Program

Phone: 707-253-4540
Website: www.countyofnapa.org/1906/Retail-Food-Program
Scoring type: Points Deduction 100
Grading type: Letter Grade
Office: 1195 Third Street, Napa, California 94559
Pass threshold: 90
Warning threshold: 80
Critical threshold: 70

Methodology

Napa County operates a points-deduction-from-100 system with a 4-tier letter grade A/B/C/F. Each inspection begins at 100 points; violations are deducted based on severity (Major = 6 points, Minor = 2 or less points; variable). Letter grade is assigned by total points deducted: A (0-10 deducted, score 90-100), B (11-20 deducted, score 80-89), C (21-30 deducted, score 70-79), F (30+ deducted, score below 70). F grade necessitates immediate action and subjects facility to additional inspections and/or legal actions. Napa uses F as the failure tier; San Bernardino uses 4-tier with a "Closure" bottom tier, and Kern uses 4-tier with a "Notice of Closure" placard. Risk-based inspection frequency: Low risk (prepackaged/convenience) = 1/yr, Medium risk (limited prep) = 2/yr, High risk (full menu/supermarkets) = 3/yr; poor-scoring facilities inspected more frequently. Authority: California Retail Food Code.

Inspection results published by the agency are mirrored at Napa County on ScoreTable.

Primary source

Napa County Grand Jury 2015-2016 Final Report "Maintaining Food Quality in Napa County" + Napa County Planning, Building and Environmental Services April 2025 News Release

Last verified by JIE: May 21, 2026

Published inspection data for Napa County is mirrored on ScoreTable, direct from the agency.

Health department detail

What makes Napa County distinct

4-tier letter grade A/B/C/F (F = failure): Napa uses F as the explicit failure tier rather than a placard (Kern's Notice of Closure) or score-card-only state (Los Angeles County's score-below-70 state)
Major violation = 6 points (variable Minor): Different weighting from San Bernardino (Major=4), Kern (Major=5), Merced (Major=7); Minor violation points are variable (2 or less) rather than fixed
Risk-based inspection frequency (Low=1/yr, Medium=2/yr, High=3/yr): Three-tier risk frequency tied to food preparation complexity; full-menu restaurants and supermarkets inspected 3 times per year
Five incorporated cities within Napa County all covered by county program: No independent city environmental health departments in Napa County; all facilities in incorporated cities are inspected by county environmental health department
Educational approach prioritized over enforcement; explicit 95% A-or-B compliance target: Program philosophy emphasizes owner education and collaboration over punitive enforcement; documented 95% target met or exceeded each year since 2014
No-contact policy with news media for complaints and outbreak investigations: All media communications regarding food complaints or outbreak investigations are issued through the Napa County Department of Public Health, not Planning, Building and Environmental Services

Standard 02

Fire Safety

Authority having jurisdiction

In Napa County, fire code authority rests with CAL FIRE Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit / Napa City Fire Department.

Phone: (707) 253-4320
Website: countyofnapa.org/fire
Fire code edition: 2025 California Fire Code
NFPA 96 edition: 2021
Hood cleaning default: Quarterly
Permit type: Operational Fire Permit — annual renewal, pass/fail

Hood cleaning frequencies

Frequencies enforced by CAL FIRE Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit / Napa City Fire Department per NFPA 96 (2021).

Cooking volume / type	Frequency
Solid-fuel cooking	Monthly
High-volume / 24-hour / charbroil / wok	Quarterly
Moderate-volume	Semiannually
Low-volume / seasonal / place of worship	Annually

Hood cleaning enforcement

MODERATE

Reference

Frequently asked

Who inspects commercial kitchens in Napa County?: Napa County Planning, Building and Environmental Services Department, Environmental Health Division — Retail Food Program is the food safety authority for Napa County. Reach them at 707-253-4540. California Retail Food Code provides the statutory base; the agency conducts inspections, scores them per local methodology, and posts results to the public.
How are inspection results communicated in Napa County?: Napa County Planning, Building and Environmental Services Department, Environmental Health Division — Retail Food Program documents inspections per letter grade methodology. Results are available to the public through the agency's published portals.
Who enforces fire and hood-cleaning rules in Napa County?: In Napa County, fire code authority rests with CAL FIRE Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit / Napa City Fire Department. Enforcement covers the 2025 California Fire Code and NFPA 96 (2021 edition) for commercial kitchen exhaust. Hood cleaning default frequency: quarterly.
What fire code edition applies in Napa County?: The 2025 California Fire Code is the adopted edition. NFPA 96 (2021) governs commercial kitchen exhaust systems. Ask CAL FIRE Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit / Napa City Fire Department whether Napa County has adopted local amendments to the 2025 California Fire Code.
Where can I verify Napa County inspection records?: Primary source: https://www.countyofnapa.org/1906/Retail-Food-Program. EvidLY ScoreTable mirrors the latest health-department-published results at https://www.getevidly.com/scoretable/california/napa.

Related coverage

What to do with this data

EvidLY

Predict the failure. Reduce the cost. Prove the work.

EvidLY reads the regulations for Napa County, identifies what's about to slip, and documents what got done — before an inspector or insurer asks.

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ScoreTable

Napa County inspection data — direct from the agency.

Real inspection results for Napa County, mirrored from the health department's own published portals. No aggregation, no conversion.

View Napa County on ScoreTable

FTC disclosure: Stovio Advisors is a Cleaning Pros Plus, LLC company. Cleaning Pros Plus, HoodOps, and EvidLY (with ScoreTable) are commonly owned. Links to these sister brands are editorial references, not paid placements, and do not influence coverage. Vendor Network placements are paid and labeled as such; they do not influence editorial coverage.

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