Consumer Protection

The Consumer Protection programs of Butte County Environmental Health (BCEH) strive to protect public health through the permitting and inspection of retail food facilities, public swimming pools and spas, body art practitioners and facilities, and organized camps. BCEH issues color-coded placards to retail food facilities and posts all of the food facility inspection reports online for public viewing.

Food Program

Butte County Environmental Health's (BCEH) Retail Food Program is responsible for the enforcement of the California Retail Food Code and the implementation of our food facility color-coded placard program. All retail food facilities including restaurants, bars, markets, school cafeterias, mobile food facilities, and temporary food facilities at community events are permitted and inspected regularly by Environmental Health Specialists. Additionally, we provide food safety education and conduct complaint investigations. Our food facility inspections are designed to minimize the occurrence of the five most critical risk factors for foodborne illness: 1) food from unsafe sources, 2) inadequate cooking temperatures, 3) improper holding temperatures, 4) contaminated equipment, and 5) poor employee hygiene. BCEH has approximately 1200 retail food facilities and conducts 2000 plus routine health inspections per year.

Learn how to keep food safe during a power outage (PDF).

Visit the Food Program page for more information.

Body Art Program

Butte County Environmental Health's (BCEH) Safe Body Art Program is responsible for enforcing the California Safe Body Art Act in order to protect both body art practitioners and clients from the transmission of infectious diseases. Facilities that perform body art such as tattooing, permanent cosmetics, body piercing, and branding are permitted and inspected by Environmental Health Specialists. In addition to permitting body art facilities, BCEH also registers all body art practitioners. BCEH has approximately 70 body art practitioners and 20 body art facilities.

Visit the Body Art Program page for more information.

Public Swimming Pools & Spas

Butte County Environmental Health's (BCEH) Recreational Health Program is responsible for the enforcement of state and local health codes to ensure all public swimming pools and spas are maintained in a safe and healthful manner. Public pools and spas are licensed and inspected by Environmental Health Specialists in order to prevent the occurrence of diseases related to pathogenic organisms such as Giardia, Cryptosporidium, and E Coli and injuries like slipping, falling, and accidental entrapment. BCEH has approximately 300 public pools and spas in operation at apartments, hotels, and health clubs.

Visit the Public Swimming Pools and Spas page for more information.