How Albuquerque Food Inspections Treat Rodents

Short answer: inside city limits, Albuquerque's Environmental Health Department inspects restaurants and food stores under the 2022 FDA Food Code and the city's Food Service and Retail Ordinance. Inspectors look for droppings, gnaw marks and the gaps that let rodents in. A light finding can mean a correction order. Heavy droppings on a kitchen line with no pest control in place have led to an immediate closure.

Outside the city, Bernalillo County runs its own food safety program. Elsewhere in New Mexico, the state Environment Department inspects. Here's how the system works and what a kitchen can do before an inspector arrives.

The New Mexico Environment Department's Food Safety Program permits and inspects food businesses across the state, but its page says it has no jurisdiction in Bernalillo County or Albuquerque, since both have their own programs. Inside city limits, the city's Environmental Health Department handles inspections and complaints. Its complaint page tells people outside city limits to contact Bernalillo County.

So a restaurant in Nob Hill answers to the city, a cafe in the South Valley answers to the county and a diner in Moriarty answers to the state.

The city says it follows the 2022 FDA Food Code along with Chapter 9, Article 6 of the city code. Several Food Code provisions deal with pests directly:

• Controlling pests (6-501.111): the premises must be kept free of rodents and other pests, with routine inspection of deliveries and the building, trapping or other approved methods and removal of harborage
• Removing dead or trapped pests (6-501.112): dead or trapped rodents removed often enough that they don't pile up or draw other pests
• Outer openings (6-202.15): holes and gaps along floors, walls and ceilings closed, tight-fitting windows and solid, self-closing, tight-fitting doors
• Rodent bait stations (7-206.12): bait kept in covered, tamper-resistant stations
• Food storage (3-305.11): food kept off the floor so it isn't contaminated by the premises

The Albuquerque Journal publishes the city's weekly inspection reports. Its September 2026 summary describes three ratings. Green means the business passed and showed it can keep a safe, sanitary operation. Yellow means it may keep operating but must follow a plan to fix the violations. Red means major violations that posed an imminent hazard and required an immediate downgrade or closure, usually with a re-inspection before reopening.

Two real examples show the range. In July 2023, the Journal reported two restaurants listed as not in compliance after inspectors found rodent droppings in cabinets, in storage and near coolers, along with gaps at a back door and holes in walls. One passed its follow-up inspection. In September 2026, the city closed a downtown hotel kitchen after an inspector found heavy rodent droppings along the kitchen line, in broken equipment, in the service area and in the dining room, and reported no control methods in place.

The difference was scale and response. Droppings found and dealt with, with a pest program in place, is a correction. Droppings everywhere with nothing being done is an imminent hazard.

The city code sets civil fines for food establishment violations at $250 for a first offense, $500 for a second and $1,000 for a third or later offense within 36 months, with each day counted as a separate offense. Criminal penalties are also possible as a petty misdemeanor. Hearings go to an Independent Hearing Officer, with a $50 nonrefundable fee, and appeals go to District Court.

Inspectors look for evidence and for whether you have control in place. A kitchen that can show a pest program and a clean, sealed building is in a much better position. Restaurant kitchen rodent control covers what a program includes.

• A pest control contract with a written log of each visit
• Traps and stations placed and maintained, with bait only in tamper-resistant stations
• Gaps sealed at the back door, pipe chases and wall bases
• Food stored off the floor and away from walls
• Under-equipment cleaning on a schedule
• Dumpster lids closed and the pad clean

Pull any food that may be contaminated. Clean and sanitize the area with gloves on, soaking droppings before wiping, since dry sweeping can put particles in the air. Call your pest control provider the same day and get the visit logged. Then find the entry point. A provider who seals the building does more for the next inspection than a dozen extra traps. NMDA requires licensed applicators to keep records of each application for at least two years, so ask for copies. See the license guide.

Look for a provider that works with restaurants regularly and understands inspection expectations. Ask for their NMDA license and proof of insurance, how often they'll visit, what they'll leave in writing after each visit and how fast they respond to a callback. A provider who places stations outside and traps inside, and seals entry points, is doing the work an inspector wants to see.

• NMDA license with the vertebrate pest category
• Service reports after every visit
• Clear map of trap and station locations
• Fast callback when staff find droppings
• Sealing included or quoted separately

A short routine catches problems before an inspector does:

• Daily: check under the line and in dry storage for droppings at opening
• Daily: close the back door, sweep the dock and close the dumpster lid
• Weekly: pull out equipment where possible and clean behind it
• Weekly: rotate dry goods and break down boxes
• Monthly: walk the building with the pest provider and review the log

Mobile and temporary food businesses fall under the same food safety programs as restaurants: the city inside Albuquerque, Bernalillo County outside it and the state Environment Department elsewhere. The state program also permits temporary events like county and state fairs. Commissary kitchens and storage areas need the same pest program as any kitchen.

Vendors should keep food sealed and off the ground at outdoor events, where mice and birds are both drawn to spills.

• Checking a New Mexico Pest Control License, Plus Rodenticide Rules
• City Rules on Yards, Weeds and Trash That Bear on Rodents
• Mice in the Kitchen: What to Throw Out, Clean and Seal
• Rodent Poison Around Pets and Wildlife: What to Know

Services: Restaurant Kitchen Rodent Control / Commercial Rodent Control / Rat Control

1. City of Albuquerque Environmental Health: Restaurant and food safety complaints
2. New Mexico Environment Department: Food Safety Program
3. U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Food Code 2022
4. Albuquerque Journal: Ten businesses red-tagged in city's latest inspection report (Sept. 2026)
5. Albuquerque Journal: Rodent droppings and improper hand washing (July 2023)
6. Albuquerque Code of Ordinances, Chapter 9, Article 7: Insect and Rodent Control