Austin, TX Public Health Rules: Restaurant Grade Cards (2026)

Under Austin City Code Sec. 10-3-153, the health authority documents three things on every food service enterprise or retail food store inspection report: a weighted point value assigned to each critical-requirement violation, the resulting rating score (100 minus the sum of those weighted points), and a warning that failing to correct the violations within the prescribed period can lead to permit suspension. Critical-requirement violations must be fixed "as soon as possible," or, if the health authority approves an extension, no later than the 10th day after the inspection. Non-critical violations get whatever deadline the report states, or must be cleared before the next routine inspection if no deadline is listed. Once a score drops below 70 points, Sec. 10-3-153(D) shortens the clock dramatically: the person in charge must begin correcting the identified violations within 48 hours of the inspection, regardless of what deadline the report otherwise allows.

The scoring system sits inside Article 7 (Inspections) of Chapter 10-3, which also gives the health authority broad inspection powers under Sec. 10-3-151: entering during regular business hours, sampling food, and examining purchase and employee records. Temporary food establishments face a stricter standard than the 48-hour window: Sec. 10-3-154 requires them to correct violations immediately or stop selling food until the health authority authorizes a restart, and mobile food establishments are held to the same immediate-correction rule under Sec. 10-3-156. The chapter's offense provisions, Sec. 10-3-211, make it a fine-only offense to knowingly submit false information on a permit application, to operate under a permit issued to someone else, or to fail to perform an act the chapter requires, with each day of a continuing violation charged as a separate offense.