BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 724
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Date of Hearing: April 28, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Rob Bonta, Chair
AB 724
Dodd - As Amended April 20, 2015
SUBJECT: Temporary food facilities: community event.
SUMMARY: Adds district fairs as a type of "community event" in
the California Retail Food Code (CRFC).
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the CRFC, which states the intent of the
Legislature to occupy the whole field of health and sanitation
standards for retail food facilities and makes standards set
forth in CRFC exclusive of all local health and sanitation
standards relating to retail food facilities, with specified
exceptions. Vests local enforcement agencies with primary
responsibility for enforcement of CRFC.
2)Defines a food facility as an operation that stores, prepares,
packages, serves, vends, or otherwise provides food for human
consumption, on or off the premises, regardless of whether
there is a charge, at the retail level. Creates standards
particular to specific types of food facilities which include:
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Permanent food facilities; Mobile food facilities; Nonprofit
charitable temporary food that are operated four times a year
by a nonprofit charitable organization; Temporary food
facilities that are assembled and remain fixed during a
community event or swap meet; Certified farmers' markets
certified by the County Agricultural Commissioner; and, Farm
stands.
3)Defines a temporary food facility as a food facility approved
by the enforcement officer that operates at a fixed location
for the duration of an approved community event or at a swap
meet and only as a part of the community event or swap meet.
4)Defines community event as an event that is of civic,
political, public, or educational nature, including state and
county fairs, city festivals, circuses, and other public
gathering events approved by the local enforcement agency.
5)Assigns regulatory authority and responsibility for fiscal and
policy oversight of fairs to the California Department of Food
and Agriculture (DFA)
FISCAL EFFECT: None.
COMMENTS:
1)PURPOSE OF THIS BILL. According to the author, this bill
harmonizes the definition of district fairs across the state
and in doing so provides for uniform and equitable enforcement
of health code. County environmental health divisions are
given a large degree of discretion in the CRFC to determine
best practices at all categories of food facilities. While
this local discretion is critical in ensuring food safety
across different regions, it has also resulted in uneven
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enforcement of regulations across the state. The author
asserts that local control of food safety requirements
presents a particular challenge for events with traveling
components such as fairs and golf tournaments. In extreme
cases the result is such that food practices which guarantee
approval to operate in one county may fail to pass in another
county, or only secure operational approved for a very limited
time, typically three to five days. The author states that
issues have arisen when a community event is scheduled for a
longer period of time than its food facilities are granted
approval to operate.
2)BACKGROUND. The CRFC is patterned after the federal Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) Food Code, which is a model for
local, state, and federal jurisdictions that are responsible
for ensuring food safety. According to the FDA, the Food Code
represents FDA's best advice, updated every four years, for a
uniform system of provisions that address the safety and
protection of food offered at retail and in food service.
Forty-eight states and territories have adopted food codes
patterned after the FDA Food Code, representing over 80% of
the U.S. population.
3)DISTRICT FAIRS. District fairs, also known as District
Agricultural Associations (DAAs) are within the network of
California fairs and expositions. DAAs are largely the same
as County Fairs, although DAAs have more strict reporting
requirements to DFA because they are a state entity, while
county fairs are operated through a contract with the County
Board of Supervisors or other local government. Among the 78
California fairs there are 52 DAAs, 23 County Fairs, two
Citrus Fruit Fairs, and the California Exposition and State
Fair.
4)RELATED LEGISLATION.
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a) AB 143 (Wood) expands an exemption in the CRFC allowing
wine tasting rooms that currently only serve crackers to
also serve pretzels or prepackaged non-potentially
hazardous foods. AB 143 passed out of this committee on
April 21, 2015 with a vote of 16-0 and is now pending in
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
b) AB 1076 (Mayes) exempts from the definition of a food
facility, a snack bar operated by a charitable nonprofit
organization and authorizes snack bars to undertake limited
food preparation, as defined. AB 1076 is pending in
Assembly Health Committee.
5)POLICY COMMENT. Under DFA regulation, district fairs and
county fairs are treated largely the same. It is not clear
that there is a need to differentiate district and county
fairs within the CRFC.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
None on file.
Opposition
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None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Dharia McGrew / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097