Food Establishment Inspection & Permitting Software
One System for Food Safety Permits, Inspections, Complaints, and Online Payments
Food protection is a year-round cycle: annual permits and risk-based inspections for every food service establishment, plus complaints and foodborne illness follow-up. GovOwl puts your whole food safety program on one platform, configured to your forms, fee schedule, and food code.
Food Safety Inspections, Permits, and Complaints
- Food inspections – restaurants, groceries, schools, daycares, farmers markets, and mobile and temporary vendors
- Risk scoring – violations, photos, and reinspections
- Food permits – annual, new, renewal, and seasonal, with plan review
- CFM tracking – food manager certification on the facility record
- Foodborne illness – intake, routing, and investigation
- Online payments – applications and payments for permits and renewals
Our Solution
GovOwl is configured to your forms, scoring, and workflow. Inspectors work from iPads online or offline while office staff handle applications, plan reviews, and renewals, and the system schedules inspections at risk-based frequencies so higher-risk facilities are seen more often. Because GovOwl runs your other environmental health programs on the same platform, every facility record lives in one place. Food inspection is where GovOwl started. Our first product in 2013 was a retail food inspection app for food inspectors, and it is the program most of our agencies run today. Each new food project is managed by a licensed REHS who ran a county food program.
Why It Matters
Consistent scoring, photos, and signatures make inspections defensible, complaints route to the right investigator with facility history attached, renewals and inspection cycles flag automatically, and activity stays ready for state and federal program-standards reporting.
Built for Your State’s Program
GovOwl runs in food programs nationwide across cities, counties, and health districts, configured to each state’s food code on the FDA Food Code baseline. We run food programs in TX (TFER), MA, WA (Red/Blue Form), CT, OK, NE, and IN, and offer special pricing in AZ, CO, IL, MD, MI, MN, MO, NJ, OH, and WI where programs are run locally. Whether you run the 2017 or 2022 FDA Food Code or a local variation, GovOwl matches your forms, violations, and workflow.
Works the Way Your Field Staff Do
GovOwl’s native iPad app works fully offline and syncs when back in range, so REHS inspectors score, cite violations, capture photos, collect signatures, and email the report before they leave the counter.
Funding Your Program
Because permit and renewal fees are collected online, the program helps fund itself, and some agencies use FDA Retail Program Standards grants through NEHA, NACCHO, or AFDO to advance their conformance.
Related Programs
Environmental Health | Permitting | Government Inspection | iPad
Ready to Modernize Your Food Program?
See how GovOwl runs food establishment inspections, permitting, and foodborne illness tracking in one system.