Toronto ordered 85 food premises closed in three years, data shows

Toronto Public Health ordered 85 food premises closed over the past three years, and courts fined operators $151,718 across 214 convictions, the city’s own DineSafe inspection data shows.

The DineSafe open data file, downloaded on Nov. 4, covers inspections from Nov. 10, 2023 to Nov. 3, 2026 at about 20,000 food premises. The 85 closure orders were issued at 84 premises.

The trend

Closures ran at zero to two a month in early 2025, rose to five to eight a month in the fall of 2025 and early 2026, then eased to about two a month in September and October 2026. By year, there were 21 closures in 2024, 29 in 2025 and 35 so far in 2026, while the number of inspections also rose, from 25,437 in 2024 to 28,109 so far this year.

The fines

The 214 convictions were recorded at 157 premises. The average fine was about $709 and the largest was $12,505. Another 203 records were still listed as pending. Fine amounts are set under provincial law and decided by the courts, not by the health unit.

About 150 to 240 inspections a month end in a “Conditional Pass,” which means the premises must fix problems before a reinspection.

What the data does not show

The data does not say why closures rose and then fell. The increase could reflect more inspections, policy changes or conditions at restaurants. Nothing here suggests that any premises is unsafe today, and closed premises are usually allowed to reopen once problems are fixed.

Canada News Media sent questions to Toronto Public Health on Nov. 4, asking whether it agrees with these counts, why closures rose and eased, and whether the file includes every conviction since 2023. Toronto Public Health did not respond by the deadline, 5 p.m. ET on Nov. 9. We will add its response if it replies.

What it means for you

You can look up any Toronto restaurant’s inspection history on the city’s DineSafe page before you book, and report food safety concerns through 311. A green Pass sign can still sit alongside minor infractions in the record.

How we did this. We loaded the full DineSafe file (125,490 rows) and counted inspections as distinct premises-and-date pairs, closures as inspections with the status “Closed,” and convictions as distinct premises, outcome date and fine amount where the outcome begins “Conviction.” Because the file starts in November 2023 with few 2023 records, trends use 2024 onward.

With reporting by a Canada News Media contributor.