GutCheck is an independent tool that reorganizes the City of Chicago’s own public health inspection records into a searchable, readable format. It does not conduct inspections, alter results, or represent the City of Chicago in any way.
Every record on GutCheck comes directly from the City of Chicago’s Food Inspections open-data feed, published by the Chicago Department of Public Health’s Food Protection Program (data.cityofchicago.org, dataset ID 4ijn-s7e5). The city has published this dataset since January 1, 2010, and updates it daily.
Each restaurant’s inspection results in one of three outcomes: Pass, Pass w/ Conditions, or Fail. Violations found during an inspection are further classified as Priority, Priority Foundation, or Core, based on how directly they relate to foodborne illness risk. GutCheck displays a restaurant’s most recent graded inspection along with its recent history.
GutCheck rebuilds its full dataset from the city’s live feed on every deployment, currently at least once daily. The most recent inspection currently on file is dated 2026-07-16.
GutCheck currently covers 9,734 currently-active restaurants within Chicago city limits. Some nearby suburbs commonly referred to as "Chicago" — including Oak Park, Elmwood Park, and Rosemont — are inspected by separate local or contracted health departments rather than the Chicago Department of Public Health, and are not yet included because no comparable public open-data feed has been identified for them.
Violations noted during an inspection are allegations at the time of inspection and may be disputed or corrected afterward. Inspection results reflect a single point in time and are not a guarantee of current or future conditions.