Mexico: food inspections

In Mexico the app follows the federal hygiene rule NOM-251-SSA1-2009 (its chapters for every food business and for restaurants) under the Ley General de Salud, with the app's own suggestions told apart from the law. Chef Hygiene keeps your daily records; it does not file your aviso de funcionamiento or license you, and it is not approved by COFEPRIS or any state health agency.

Inspection body

Your state's health agency (its COESPRIS or health secretariat), under agreements with the federal COFEPRIS

A restaurant does not need a health licence: it files an aviso de funcionamiento (a notice of operation) at least 30 days before opening, with COFEPRIS or the state (Ley General de Salud, art. 200 Bis). Your state's health agency (its COESPRIS or health secretariat, under agreements with the federal COFEPRIS) does the sanitary checks; in some states COFEPRIS's own staff visit too.

The authority can give a warning, a fine, a temporary or permanent closure of all or part of the business, or arrest of up to 36 hours for anyone who stops the inspectors. A breach of the hygiene rules can be fined up to 16,000 times the UMA (about MXN 1,876,960 in 2026, with the UMA at MXN 117.31 a day), and not filing the aviso de funcionamiento up to 2,000 times the UMA (about MXN 234,620); a repeat within a year doubles the fine (Ley General de Salud, arts 417–427). Check the current law.

Hygiene rating

There is no hygiene grade. The Distintivo H is a voluntary badge from the tourism ministry (SECTUR) with the Health Ministry, based on a voluntary standard (NMX-F-605-NORMEX-2018): it is not an inspection result.