More than 3,000 state, local and tribal agencies conduct inspections, often using different versions of the FDA Food Code.

Routine restaurant inspection reports may be an underused tool in preventing foodborne illness and could be more powerful when paired with disease surveillance data, according to a new review in the Journal of Food Protection.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota and the University of Helsinki reviewed published studies examining how restaurant inspection results relate to outbreaks and sporadic foodborne infections. They found that inspection data, already collected by local and state health departments, could help investigators spot transmission patterns earlier and strengthen outbreak response.