Placer County commercial kitchen compliance

Placer County (CA) operates a Green/Yellow/Red color-coded placard program enforced under the California Retail Food Code and the Placer County Retail Food Facility Placard Program local ordinance (approved by the Board of Supervisors February 10, 2016) by the Placer County Environmental Health Division (within the Health and Human Services Department). Placard determination is driven by the count of major violations observed during inspection. Green = PASS ("No major violations are present at the end of the inspection. A re-inspection may be conducted if any minor violations are not corrected."). Yellow = CONDITIONAL PASS ("Failure to correct or mitigate any major violation observed during the inspection OR Violation of a Compliance Agreement which may include failure to correct ongoing or repeating major and minor violations."). Red = CLOSED ("Closure of the facility due to any condition that poses an imminent danger to public health and safety that cannot be corrected or mitigated during the inspection."). Examples of Red triggers: operating without valid health permit, surfacing sewage, no hot water, rodent/insect infestation, other unsanitary conditions. Placer County does not publish a public-facing numeric score; placard color is the sole public display. Red placards must remain posted and the facility must remain closed until a re-inspection confirms the imminent health hazard has been resolved. Placer's Yellow trigger is notably stricter than the Bay Area baseline: most placard counties trigger Yellow only on uncorrected major violations, but Placer additionally triggers Yellow on Compliance Agreement violations that can include ongoing or repeating minor violations. An operator with chronic minor violations under a Compliance Agreement can drop to Yellow in Placer even without major violations. Approximately 1,300 retail food facilities are permitted countywide. Placer is the easternmost member of the Sacramento Valley placard cluster, the bridge to the Bay Area placard cluster, and the first California Tahoe placard county.