Madison County Health Department, Environmental Health Division

Food Service / Environmental Health Permit

This is a county function throughout Madison County — even inside Huntsville, which has no separate municipal food-permit layer of its own. Huntsville's own carnival-license ordinance requires 'Madison County Health Department food permits' before the city grants its own carnival license, i.e. the city itself treats the county health department, not any city office, as the food-permitting authority even for events inside city limits. A childcare center that prepares food on site, or serves catered food, must submit a current health-department food permit (or written approval of its food-service plan from the health department) as part of its state DHR childcare licensing application — that is the confirmed county-level touchpoint for childcare, folded into this record rather than a separate one. Inspections use a 100-point scoring system: a score of 85 or above is inspected every four months, 60-70 requires corrective action within 48 hours, and below 60 means immediate closure until the score returns to 85 or above. This permit is separate from, and in addition to, each business's county and municipal business-privilege license.