Grease Trap Requirements
San Francisco, CA

FOG Compliance in San Francisco, CA

Food service establishments in San Francisco operate under a combination of federal EPA pretreatment standards, California state plumbing code, and city-level FOG ordinances. Together these rules determine how grease traps must be sized, how often they must be pumped, and what happens when a restaurant falls out of compliance. The linked Census county data records approximately 3,920 food service establishments in the surrounding county area; this is not a count of regulated premises within the city.

Pumping frequency is the compliance rule restaurant owners interact with most often. In San Francisco, the rule is: Follow the operating and maintenance conditions in your facility permit. SFPUC inspectors can require more frequent cleaning following their assessment.

San Francisco requires a dedicated FOG permit for any food service establishment generating fats, oils, and grease. The annual permit fee is SFPUC Category 1 and 2 fact sheets state that the Wastewater Discharger Permit is issued at no cost. Separate installation permits from Building Inspection or the Port still apply.. The permit is separate from, and in addition to, the plumbing permit required at installation.

SFPUC conducts inspections and assigns a discharger category; no universal annual interval is established by the reviewed fact sheets.. Establishments must maintain pumping logs, hauler manifests, and inspection reports on-site — missing records is itself a violation in most enforcement actions. Enforcement authority rests with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) Wastewater Enterprise; San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH) for food facility permits, which handles permit issuance, inspections, and hauler licensing.

For a deeper explanation of the rules this city enforces, read our guides on how grease traps work and the 25/50 pumping rule.