The region is taking a bite out of its food safety and inspection numbers, with a new report detailing a rise in total establishments and inspections, but showing some positive trends.
The report comes from Region of Waterloo Public Health, which goes into the specifics around food safety trends throughout 2025.
In line with the region’s growing population, public health showed that the number of establishments, restaurants, and other food premises increased to 3,754, up by over 4 per cent compared with 3,604 premises the year prior.
Compared to the increasing number of establishments, the number of food safety inspections has also risen, with public health listing a total of 6,710 inspections across 2025, up 5 per cent from 2024.
“Public health remains committed to delivering an effective Food Safety Program in a rapidly growing region where both the community and the food service industry continue to expand and evolve,” it said in its report.
For context, even though there is a rise, those numbers have stayed a consistent trend in recent years, with each establishment averaging around 1.77 inspections in 2024 and increasing to 1.79 inspections each in 2025.
Public Health also stated that the complexity around those inspections has also increased.
“As the number of food premises in the Region continues to grow, food safety inspections are becoming increasingly complex and requiring more time,” said Public Health. “The rise in special events and food establishments has introduced a wider variety of foods, some of which may be unfamiliar to health inspectors.”
To counteract the complexity and time commitments needed to conduct inspections, Public Health said that, with the support of regional council, it brought on 2 additional inspector positions through 2025.
Where the larger differences have been seen, though, are the complaints and issued tickets, both of which took a noticeable dip last year.
The report shows a large drop in the number of tickets issued by inspectors, with 57 issued last year, which is an over 40 per cent drop compared with 96 tickets issued in 2024.
The number of complaints also dropped from 1,061 to 928, an almost 13 per cent decline. The one area that did see a slight bump is the number of business closure orders, which moved from 18 in 2024 to 24 in 2025.
“Through a combination of routine inspections, education, and regulatory enforcement, Public Health works collaboratively with owners and operators to promote best practices, strengthen food safety knowledge, and minimize the risk of food-borne illness across the community.”
More numbers are set to be brought to the region’s Community and Health Services Committee for review next week, slated for Tuesday, Mar. 10.
How to find inspection results for favourite restaurants and establishments
It’s helpful to be able to pinpoint favourite dish destinations across the region that many may check out on a regular basis.
That can be done through Public Health’s ‘Check It’ website, which shows individual inspection, complaint, and enforcement numbers from across Waterloo Region.
Through that page, residents can search by inspection area, address, or the name of the establishment, with the website then going into detail on what inspectors have found.
Every single listing will then show the date of the inspections, the inspection type, associated complaints, and whether non-critical or critical infractions were found.
If clicked, each individual inspection then goes into further details of what exactly was found.
Those details and more can be found directly on Public Health’s ‘Check It’ website.
