Why the same violation cost you 7 points once and 10 the next time

Two inspections, same code, different points. Nobody explained why, so it looks arbitrary. It is not.

Every violation has a floor

The Health Department sorts violations into three categories, and each has a minimum:

• A public health hazard starts at 7 points. Food held at the wrong temperature is the classic. If it cannot be corrected before the inspection ends, the Department can close you until it is.
• A critical violation starts at 5 points. Serving produce that was not properly washed, for instance.
• A general violation starts at 2 points. Utensils not sanitised properly.

Those are floors. Almost nothing scores exactly the minimum.

The condition level is what moves the number

On top of the category, the inspector assigns a condition level from 1 to 5, describing how extensive the problem is.

The Department's own example: one contaminated food item is condition level 1 and generates 7 points. Four or more contaminated items is condition level 4 and generates 10.

Same violation. Same code on the report. Three points apart, because one is an incident and the other is a pattern.

What this changes about how you read your history

It means the code alone tells you very little.

"We got a 04L last year and it was fine" is not information. A 04L for two droppings in a dry store is a different event from a 04L for an active run behind the line, and the second one is what turns a 12 into a 19.

When you look at your own inspection record, read the points, not just the codes. A code that appears twice at low points is a nuisance. The same code climbing in points across two visits is a condition getting worse while nobody watches.

Why this is good news

Because it means partial progress counts.

If you cannot eliminate a problem before your re-inspection, reducing it still moves your score. Fewer instances, contained to one area, cleaned up at the edges — that is a lower condition level, and a lower condition level is fewer points.

Operators sometimes decide a problem is unfixable in the time available and stop trying. The scoring does not work that way. There is real distance between a level 4 and a level 2, and you can travel some of it in a week.

The practical read

Find your last inspection report. For each violation, note the code and the points.

Anything scoring well above its category floor is telling you the inspector saw the problem as widespread. That is your list, in order.

The 2-point general violations are worth fixing because they are cheap and they add up. But if you are sitting at 19 and need to get under 14, the points are hiding in the two or three items that scored high — and those are high because of condition, which means they are the ones that will score high again.