AUGUSTA — The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced health inspection results are now available online through a new web portal.

The portal is available on the Health Inspection Program (HIP) website.

This portal allows the public to view inspection violations within the past three years for establishments licensed and inspected by HIP.

These establishments include restaurants, take-out food vendors, mobile food vendors, lodging, B&Bs, campgrounds, youth camps, public pools/spas, and body artists such as tattooists, body piercers, micropigmentationists, and electrologists.

When violations are detected, HIP pursues an educational approach first and seeks voluntary compliance from licensed establishments.

Inspections are conducted unannounced by state and municipal health inspectors. Inspections are a “snapshot” of the day and time of the inspection. An inspection conducted on any given day may not represent the overall, long-term compliance of an establishment, a release noted.

Establishments are provided the opportunity to correct any observed violations while the inspector is on site.

A failed inspection results from more than three critical or more than 10 non-critical violations. Critical violations must be corrected within 10 days and non-critical violations are generally required to be corrected within 30 days.

The timeframe in which a follow-up inspection occurs after each failed inspection depends on the nature of the violations that caused the failure. Repeat violations or failure to correct violations as outlined may lead to enforcement including fines and penalties.