About dinesafe+
Toronto's restaurant inspection data, made understandable.
What is the DineSafe Program?
DineSafe is the City of Toronto's food safety inspection program. Every restaurant, café, bar, food truck, and grocery store in Toronto is inspected by city health inspectors at least once a year. The results are public record.
dinesafe+ takes this raw open data and presents it in a way that's actually useful — with risk scores, maps, search, and shareable links. We don't add or remove any data; we just make it accessible.
Inspection Outcomes
After each inspection, the establishment receives one of three outcomes:
Pass
The establishment meets all food safety requirements, or any minor issues found were corrected during the inspection. This is the most common outcome.
Conditional Pass
The establishment has one or more significant infractions that require corrective action. The business can continue operating but must fix the issues. A follow-up inspection will be scheduled.
Closed
The establishment has been ordered to close due to serious health hazards. This is rare and typically involves conditions that pose an immediate risk to public health. The business must resolve all issues and pass a re-inspection before reopening.
Infraction Severity Levels
When an inspector finds a violation, it's classified by severity. These are the official City of Toronto categories:
Crucial
The most serious type. These violations pose a direct and immediate health hazard — things like evidence of pests, food stored at unsafe temperatures, or lack of proper handwashing facilities. Crucial infractions must be corrected immediately.
Examples: cockroach activity, raw meat stored above ready-to-eat food, no hot water
Significant
These violations could become health hazards if not addressed. They include things like improper food handling procedures, inadequate cleaning, or missing food safety certifications. Correction is required within a set timeframe.
Examples: food handler without certification, inadequate sanitizer concentration, improper thawing
Minor
Low-risk issues that don't directly threaten food safety but need attention for overall compliance. These are often housekeeping or maintenance issues.
Examples: floor in poor repair, light fixture missing cover, outdated food safety plan
How the Risk Score Works
dinesafe+ calculates a risk score from 1 (safest) to 10 (highest risk) for every establishment. The score combines six factors from the full inspection record — not just a simple infraction count.
1. Infraction Severity
2. Recency
Infractions fade over time. Issues from the past year count at full weight. Issues 1–2 years old are halved. Anything older than 2 years drops to 20% — because a restaurant that cleaned up its act shouldn't be penalized forever.
3. Fines
When the city issues a fine, it signals the violation was serious enough to warrant financial penalty. Fines over $1,000 add significant weight. Smaller fines ($200+) add moderate weight.
4. Repeat Patterns
An establishment that receives Crucial infractions across 3 or more separate inspections has a systemic problem, not a one-off mistake. The score applies a 1.3x multiplier for repeat Crucial offenders, rising to 1.5x for 5 or more.
5. Closure & Conditional History
Being ordered to close is the most serious action the city can take. A recent closure adds substantial weight to the score. Conditional Passes — where the business must fix issues under follow-up — also contribute.
6. Trend Direction
If the most recent inspection found more infractions than the one before it, the establishment is getting worse, not better. A worsening trend adds a small boost to the score.
Reading the Score
1–3: Low risk — clean record or only minor issues. 4–6: Moderate — some history of violations worth noting. 7–10: High risk — a pattern of serious, repeated, or recent violations. Only about 2% of establishments score a 10.
Data Source
All inspection data comes directly from the City of Toronto Open Data portal via the DineSafe dataset. This is the same data used by Toronto Public Health.
The dataset is updated daily by the city. dinesafe+ syncs new records automatically. We do not modify, filter, or editorialize the inspection data in any way — we only add the computed risk score.
Disclaimer: dinesafe+ is an independent project and is not affiliated with the City of Toronto or Toronto Public Health. The risk score is our own calculation based on publicly available data. For official inspection results, visit open.toronto.ca.