BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 1252
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 17, 2013

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                  Mike Gatto, Chair

             AB 1252 (Committee on Health) - As Amended:  April 10, 2013 

          Policy Committee:                              HealthVote:18 - 0  


          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              Yes

           SUMMARY  

          This bill makes various technical, clarifying, and conforming  
          changes to the California Retail Food Code (CRFC), the state's  
          principal law governing food safety and sanitation in retail  
          food facilities.  Specifically, this bill:  

          1)Defines the term hot dog in the CRFC and clarifies the  
            reheating and selling of hot dogs constitutes limited food  
            preparation.

          2)Requires food handler employees to wash their hands before  
            initially donning gloves for working with food and when  
            changing tasks, as specified.  Clarifies that hand-washing is  
            not required between glove changes when no contamination of  
            the gloves or hands has occurred.

          3)Authorizes food facilities to use temporary alternative  
            storage methods, such as a trailer, for food storage during  
            holidays, emergencies, remodels or other circumstances, if  
            approved by the local environmental health department (LEHD). 

          4)Specifies potable water requirements for mobile food  
            facilities that operate at community events.

          5)Specifies that existing law prohibiting the use of trans fats  
            in all food facilities and governing compliance and  
            enforcement applies to both temporary and mobile food  
            facilities.

           FISCAL EFFECT  









                                                                  AB 1252
                                                                  Page  2

          There are no significant costs associated with this legislation.  


           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose  . This bill, sponsored by the California Retail Food  
            Safety Coalition, is intended as a clean-up measure to make  
            several technical, non-controversial clarifications and  
            conforming changes to the CRFC.  The sponsor states the  
            changes in this bill are needed to ensure the best and most  
            effective implementation of the state's principal retail food  
            sanitation law. 

           2)Background  . The CRFC is modeled after the federal Food and  
            Drug Administration's (FDA) Model Food Code (Food Code), which  
            is updated every four years to enhance food safety laws based  
            on the best available science. The Food Code assists food  
            control jurisdictions at all levels of government by providing  
            them with a scientifically sound technical and legal basis for  
            regulating the retail and food service segment of the  
            industry, such as restaurants, grocery stores, and  
            institutions like nursing homes.  Forty-eight states and  
            territories have adopted food codes patterned after the Food  
            Code, representing 80% of the US population. 



           Analysis Prepared by  :    Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081