San Diego County Environmental Health & Quality: Permits, Records & Complaints
Find San Diego County environmental health resources for checking restaurant inspections, reporting concerns, selecting permit applications, paying existing fees and searching environmental records.
Independent guide. This website is not affiliated with San Diego County or its Department of Environmental Health and Quality. It provides general information, not medical, legal or professional advice. Verify current requirements, fees and reporting instructions with the responsible official program. Submit applications, payments and reports through official services.
Services and Reporting
The Department of Environmental Health and Quality (DEHQ) administers programs involving food safety, housing conditions, public pools, hazardous materials, disease-carrying vectors, septic systems and other environmental health concerns.
Responsibilities and service areas vary by program. Check the location and type of activity before choosing an application or complaint route, particularly when a service involves an incorporated city or another agency.
| Your task | Official service |
|---|---|
| Check a restaurant or market inspection | SD Food Info |
| Report suspected foodborne illness | Foodborne Illness Intake Form on the official forms page |
| Find a permit application or plan review form | Forms and Applications |
| Pay an existing permit or re-inspection fee | County Citizen Access |
| Request help with mosquitoes, rats or another vector concern | Vector Control service requests |
| Check beach water quality information | Beach and Bay Program |
For other topics, use the DEHQ A to Z services directory. General inquiries, billing questions, technical assistance and complaints have different contacts.
Immediate danger: Call 911 for emergency assistance. Routine complaint forms are not emergency response services. Businesses reporting hazardous material releases should also follow the applicable official reporting instructions.
Food Safety and Inspections
Look Up Inspection Results
SD Food Info provides recent routine inspection information for retail food facilities, including restaurants, food trucks and markets throughout San Diego County.
Match the facility name and location before reviewing a result. Inspection information describes conditions documented during an inspection; it is not a guarantee of conditions at a later visit. For underlying reports, correspondence or other files, use the records options below.
Report Illness or a Facility Concern
For suspected food poisoning associated with a restaurant, market or other retail food facility in the county, use the Foodborne Illness Intake Form on the official forms page or call 858-505-6814.
Other food and housing complaints have a separate contact at 858-505-6903. Reporting a suspected illness does not provide a medical diagnosis or replace medical care.
Food Worker Training
The county’s services directory lists food handler cards, food handler schools and food safety manager certification separately. Review the official requirements for the credential you need before paying for a course. Do not assume that every food safety training course satisfies the same requirement.
Permits, Plans and Events
Select Materials for Your Operation
The DEHQ forms and applications page groups materials by activity. Common categories include:
- Food facilities: Public health permits, ownership changes and plan review.
- Mobile food operations: Operating procedures, commissary agreements and operating-location information.
- Temporary food facilities: Separate organizer and vendor applications.
- Home food businesses: Class A cottage food registration and Class B cottage food permit materials. Microenterprise home kitchen operations (MEHKOs) are a separate program.
- Body art: Artist registration, facility permits and temporary-event materials.
- Public pools: Permit, plan review and responsible-person forms.
- Water and hazardous materials: Program-specific applications and supporting documents.
Confirm the required package with the responsible program before submitting. Plan review, an operating permit and an ownership update may involve different requirements. Submitting a form or paying a fee does not by itself authorize an activity.
Community Event Permits
The county’s Community Event Permit program applies to qualifying public events in unincorporated San Diego County. Eligibility also depends on the organizer and event duration. Events within incorporated cities may follow a different local approval process.
Confirm eligibility before selecting forms. The official program page directs organizers to submit a complete application at least 30 days before the event. Begin early enough to obtain any additional approvals.
The forms collection identifies these activity-specific supplements:
- Form A: Food.
- Form B: Hired security or fireworks.
- Form C: A bike ride.
- Form D: Road closures.
- Form E: A recycling plan for events with total attendance of 2,000 or more.
A Community Event Permit does not replace food-vendor permits. Review the county’s temporary food facility requirements separately when food will be served.
Payments and Fees
Pay an Existing Record
The official online services page explains how to pay existing permit-record and re-inspection fees through Citizen Access.
- Open County Citizen Access and select the DEHQ tab.
- Search using the Record Number printed on your invoice.
- Open the matching record and review its fees.
- Follow the official payment instructions and retain your confirmation.
The county lists electronic fund transfer (EFT), Visa and MasterCard as online payment methods. Verify the record, amount and currently available methods before submitting payment.
Check the Applicable Fee Schedule
The DEHQ health permit fees page publishes fiscal year 2026–27 fees effective July 11, 2026. Choose the relevant program and permit type rather than assuming a fee applies across all services.
For an invoice or payment question, contact Billing at 858-505-6930. For permit classification or program-specific charges, use the contacts identified on the official fee page.
Environmental Records and Searches
Use the DEHQ public records guide to choose a search system. Permit information, scanned documents and released public records are not all held in one place.
| Record type | Where to search |
|---|---|
| Permit records and Unified Program Facility Permits | Citizen Access, under the DEHQ tab |
| Selected land and water records, including septic, well and closed site-assessment files | Environmental Health Document Library |
| Previously published requests and released documents | Public Records Request Center search |
| Relevant records not located through available searches | Submit a records request |
Search Tips
Search using one identifier at a time: a Record ID, APN, or street number and street name. Follow the official document-library page’s formatting instructions. Not all documents support keyword searching, and not all DEHQ files are available online. A missing result does not establish that no record exists.
For a Unified Program Facility Permit search, select that Record Type in Citizen Access.
Request Records
DEHQ directs users to the County Public Records Request Center (PRRC) to submit and track requests. Describe the records clearly, including useful property identifiers, facility names and date ranges.
Select the division associated with the records:
- Food, Water and Housing Division: Land, water, food, housing and public pool records.
- Hazardous Materials Division: Hazardous materials and underground storage tank records.
- Community Health Division: Mosquito, rat and other vector records.
The portal is not a permanent archive of every county record. Consult its help page for current search, assistance and retention information.
Water, Vectors and Hazardous Materials
Beach Water and Property Water Systems
The Beach and Bay Program links to current water-contact advisories, warnings and closures. Check official conditions before entering the water; this guide does not provide real-time beach status.
Septic systems, water wells, small drinking water systems and recycled water have separate program requirements. Use the DEHQ services directory to select the system involved. For stormwater discharge concerns, follow the directory’s complaint links and confirm the responsible jurisdiction.
Mosquitoes, Rats and Other Vectors
Use the Vector Control service request page for mosquito activity, rat inspections, green pools, dead birds and other vector concerns.
The program describes rat inspections as an educational service focused on the outside of buildings. It does not provide rat or mouse extermination. Review the service description before requesting an inspection.
Hazardous Materials and Waste
The Hazardous Materials Division administers Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA) programs involving regulated facilities and underground storage tanks. Household hazardous waste, medical waste and other waste categories have separate guidance.
For a spill or threatened release, consult the official spills and release reporting instructions. Reporting requirements depend on the incident and may involve more than one agency.
Businesses disputing a CUPA violation should use the “Disputing CUPA Violations” entry in the services directory and review their inspection paperwork. A general complaint or fee payment does not initiate a violation dispute.
Offices and Contacts
Check the official locations page before traveling. Published public counter hours are Monday–Friday, excluding holidays, 8 a.m.–4 p.m., with a noon–1 p.m. lunch closure. Customer service phone lines are staffed Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Visit Addresses
Permit Center and Department Headquarters
County Operations Center
5500 Overland Avenue
San Diego, CA 92123
Vector Control Program and Vector Disease Diagnostic Laboratory
County Operations Center
5570 Overland Avenue
San Diego, CA 92123
Mailing Address
County of San Diego
Department of Environmental Health and Quality
P.O. Box 129261
San Diego, CA 92112-9261
Common Program Contacts
| Program | Contact |
|---|---|
| General information | 858-505-6700 or 800-253-9933 |
| Billing | 858-505-6930 |
| Foodborne illness reports | 858-505-6814 |
| Food and housing complaints | 858-505-6903 |
| Vector Control | 858-694-2888 |
| Beach and Bay Advisory Hotline | 619-338-2073 |
| Hazardous materials technical questions | 858-505-6880 |
| Septic systems and water wells | 858-565-5173 |
For plan check, household hazardous waste, monitoring wells, radiological health and other specialized services, use the complete DEHQ program contact directory.