Ten checks, five minutes
- Last pump-out within your interval? 90 days is the legal maximum in East Baton Rouge; most kitchens need much less. Can’t remember the date? That’s a fail. (Estimate your real interval.)
- Receipt and manifest on site? The documentation of that pump-out — hauler, date, gallons — findable in under a minute.
- Trap accessible right now? Nothing stacked on the lid, no shelving blocking it — the ordinance requires immediate access at all times.
- No odor test failures. A sour smell near the dish pit that cleaning doesn’t fix usually is the trap.
- No grease staining or spills around the unit — the surrounding area must be kept clean under Sec. 2:272(9).
- Drains running free. Slow floor drains near the kitchen are the most common visible symptom of a full trap.
- No additives in use. Enzyme or emulsifier dosing is prohibited in this parish — and an inspector who spots the dispenser will ask about it.
- Lid, baffles and walls intact? Condition must be inspected at every cleaning — cracked baffles found early are cheap; found by an inspector, they come with a deadline.
- Repair paperwork filed? Any past repair needs its permit and inspection tag kept on site.
- Interval actually matches your volume? If you’ve added fryers, extended hours, or doubled covers since the schedule was set, the schedule is stale.
Print this page, walk the kitchen, and anything you can’t tick — call (225) 327-1077 and we’ll close the gap before an inspector opens it. Log every service in the pump-out log so the paperwork check is never the one you fail.
Plain-English guidance, not legal advice. Section
numbers refer to the Code of Ordinances of the City of Baton Rouge and East Baton
Rouge Parish, Title 2, Chapter 5, as enacted by Ord. No. 18719 (2022) — read the
full text on Municode. Verify current requirements with the Department of
Environmental Services before relying on them.
Want it handled instead of checked?
Scheduled service makes eight of these ten items automatic.
Call (225) 327-1077