Food Safety

Restaurant & Food Establishment Inspections

Denver is the host to over 4,000 food businesses. These businesses include restaurants, bars, convenience stores, bakeries, dairies, grocery stores, and much more. The Food Safety Program is designed to reduce the incidence of food-borne disease, commonly called food poisoning, through inspection of food businesses, education of those working with food, investigation of complaints, enforcement of regulations that affect the safety of food, and education of consumers about food safety.

Regulations and Inspection Information

At a minimum, full service restaurants are inspected twice per year, most delis and fast food restaurants are inspected annually, and facilities with very limited food options - such as bars and convenience stores - are inspected once every 18 months. Facilities receive additional regulatory visits when re-inspections are required or complaint investigations are conducted. For information about applying for a variance to the regulations, view the DDPHE Board's rules.

• Denver Food Establishment Regulations
• Denver Revised Municipal Code, Chapter 23
• Food Labeling-Guide

Food Safety Tools

• DDPHE's Food Safety System Toolkit
  • English(PDF, 895KB)
  • Spanish(PDF, 7MB)
  • Vietnamese(PDF, 424KB)
  • Mandarin(PDF, 533KB)
  • Arabic(PDF, 1MB)
• State Food Safety Training Class (Available in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Mandarin, and Korean; Cost $10)
• Food Safety Signage available from State Food Safety
• DDPHE's Food Donation Guide(PDF, 2MB) and Supplemental Guidance(PDF, 341KB)  
• Educational Posters for Retail Food Employees from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) FDA in nine different languages (Arabic, English, Hindi, Korean, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Spanish, and Vietnamese)
• Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Retail food resources

   

What's New?

• Charitable Food Service Guidelines(PDF, 134KB)
• DDPHE's Basic Food Safety Class is online and available in English and Spanish
• Food Business License Flow Chart(PDF, 199KB) - Determine the type of license you need to apply for when opening your food business in Denver
• Guide for the Sale or Distribution of Hemp-Derived Products at Special Events(PDF, 277KB)
• Changes to the Chapter 24 Fine Schedule(PDF, 791KB)
• Foodborne Illness Complaint form - Complete and submit the form online!
• Updated requirements for selling kava supplements in retail food establishments.  Learn more about the requirements (PDF).
• Food Donation Guidelines for Licensed Food Facilities (PDF)
• Food Donation Guidelines Supplemental Information (PDF)