BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D., Chair BILL NO: SB 1067 --------------------------------------------------------------- |AUTHOR: |Huff | |---------------+-----------------------------------------------| |VERSION: |March 29, 2016 | --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- |HEARING DATE: |April 6, 2016 | | | --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- |CONSULTANT: |Vince Marchand | --------------------------------------------------------------- SUBJECT : Food facilities SUMMARY : Requires the food safety certification examination, which must be completed by at least one person at every retail food facility, to include major food allergens and the symptoms that these allergens could cause in individuals who have allergic reactions. Additionally, revises and recasts provisions of law governing the serving of raw and undercooked meat, and makes various other updates and minor changes to the laws governing retail food facilities. Existing law: 1)Establishes the California Retail Food Code (CalCode) to regulate retail food facilities, which is enforced by local environmental health officers. 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. 3)Requires a food facility to designate a "person in charge" and requires a person in charge to be present at the food facility during all hours of operation. Among other responsibilities, the person in charge is required to have knowledge of safe food handling practices as they relate to the specific food preparation activities that occur at the food facility. 4)Requires food facilities that prepare non-prepackaged potentially hazardous food to have an owner or employee who has successfully passed an approved and accredited food safety certification examination, as specified, but specifies that this certified person does not need to be present at the food SB 1067 (Huff) Page 2 of ? facility during all hours of operation. 5)Requires the food safety certification examination to include specified elements of knowledge, including knowledge on foodborne illness, the relationship between hygiene and food safety, methods of preventing food contamination, and procedures for cleaning and sanitizing equipment, among other specified elements. 6)Defines "potentially hazardous food" as a food that requires time or temperature control to limit pathogenic micro-organism growth or toxin formation. Requires potentially hazardous food to be maintained at or above 135 degrees Fahrenheit, or at or below 41 degrees Fahrenheit. This bill: 1)Defines "major food allergen" as all of the following: a) Milk; b) Eggs; c) Fish, including, but not limited to, bass, flounder, and cod; d) Crustacean shellfish, including, but not limited to crab, lobster, and shrimp; e) Tree nuts, including, but not limited to, almonds, pecans, and walnuts; f) Wheat; g) Peanuts; h) Soybeans; and, i) A food ingredient that contains protein derived from any of the foods listed above. 2)Excludes from the definition of "major food allergen" a highly refined oil derived from one of the foods specified as a major food allergen, and also excludes an ingredient that is exempt under the petition or notification process specified in the federal Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004. 3)Requires the designated "person in charge" at retail food facilities to comply with both of the following: a) Have adequate knowledge of major food allergens, and the symptoms that a major food allergen could cause in a sensitive individual who has an SB 1067 (Huff) Page 3 of ? allergic reaction; and, b) Educate the employees at the food facility regarding major food allergens and the symptoms they could cause. Permits this person in charge to accomplish this education requirement by, among other methods, using a poster or job aid to which the employee can refer. 4)Requires the food safety certification examination, which each food facility is required to have at least one employee pass, to include describing foods identified as major food allergens and the symptoms that a major food allergen could cause in a sensitive individual who has an allergic reaction. 5)Repeals provisions of existing law, in order to replace with alternative disclosure requirements, which permit single pieces of meat and fish, or a salad dressing or sauce containing a raw egg, to be served raw or not cooked to the otherwise specified temperature, if the consumer specifically ordered the food to be individually prepared less than thoroughly cooked, and the food facility notifies the consumer, orally or in writing, at the time of ordering, that the food is raw or less than thoroughly cooked. 6)Permits a raw or undercooked whole-muscle, intact beef steak to be served or offered for sale in a ready-to-eat form if all of the following conditions are satisfied: a) The food facility serves a population that is not a highly susceptible population; b) The steak is labeled to indicate that it meets the definition of "whole muscle, intact beef," as specified; and, c) The steak is cooked on both the top and bottom to a surface temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit or above and a cooked color change is achieved on all external surfaces. 7)Requires whole-muscle, intact beef steaks that are intended for consumption in an undercooked form to satisfy the following conditions: a) Either the food has been obtained from a food processing plant that, upon request by the purchaser, packages the steaks and labels them to indicate that SB 1067 (Huff) Page 4 of ? the steak meets the definition of whole-muscle, intact beef, or is deemed acceptable by the enforcement agency based on other evidence; and, b) If the food is individually cut in a food facility, the food must be cut from whole-muscle intact beef that is so labeled, the food is prepared so it remains intact, and if packaged for undercooking in a food facility, relabeled as a whole-muscle, intact beef. 8)Permits a raw animal food, such as raw egg, raw fish, raw marinated fish, raw mulluscan shellfish, or steak tartare, or a partially cooked food such as lightly cooked fish, soft cooked eggs, or rare meat other than whole-muscle, intact beef steaks, to be served upon consumer request or selection in a ready-to-eat form if either of the following conditions are satisfied: a) The food facility serves a population that is not a highly susceptible population, as defined; the food, if served from a children's menu, does not contain comminuted meat (i.e., ground meat); and the consumer is informed that to ensure its safety, the food should be fully cooked; or, b) The Department of Public Health grants a variance from the required cooking temperatures based on a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan that documents scientific data showing that a lesser time and temperature regimen results in safe food, and the plan has been submitted and approved, as specified. 9)Requires a food facility, if an animal food is served or sold raw, undercooked, or without otherwise being processed to eliminate pathogens, to inform consumers of the significantly increased risk of consuming those foods by way of a disclosure, as specified, and a reminder, as specified, using brochures, deli case or menu advisories, label statements, table tents, placards, or other effective written means. 10)For purposes of the provision in 9) above, "disclosure" means a written statement that clearly includes a description of the animal-derived foods, such as "oysters on the half shell (raw oysters)" or identification of the animal-derived foods marked by an asterisk denoting a footnote that states that the items SB 1067 (Huff) Page 5 of ? are served raw or undercooked. 11)For purposes of the provision in 9) above, "reminder" means a written statement that identifies the animal derived foods by an asterisk that denotes a footnote that includes either of the following disclosure statements: "written information regarding the safety of these food items is available upon request," or "consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish, or eggs may increase your risk of foodborne illness, especially if you have certain medical conditions." 12)Specifies, for purposes of requirements pertaining to food facilities that package food, that a food facility is not required to have an HACCP plan if the facility uses a reduced-oxygen packaging method to package hazardous food that always complies with the following standards: a) The food is labeled with the production time and date; b) The food is held at 41 degrees Fahrenheit or lower during refrigerated storage; and, c) The food is removed from its package in the food facility within 48 hours after packaging. 13)Clarifies that "juicing" is considered preparing a beverage, and is therefore only subject to the more minor "limited food preparation" requirements. 14)Contains other minor, technical updates and revisions to the CalCode. FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has not been analyzed by a fiscal committee. COMMENTS : 1)Author's statement. According to the author, in 2013, the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) updated the "Model Food Code." The Food Code is a model for safeguarding public health and ensuring food is unadulterated and honestly presented when offered to the consumer, and represents FDA's best advice for a uniform system of provisions that address the safety and protection of food offered at retail and in food service. The author states that that California adopted the Model Food Code in 2006, and because none of the Model SB 1067 (Huff) Page 6 of ? Food Code has been adopted in implementing regulations, all of the updates needed to be incorporated into statute. With regard to recent amendments that incorporated provisions relating to food allergies (not part of the Model Food Code), the author states that food allergies are an increasing food safety and public health issue, affecting approximately 4 percent of the U.S. population. Restaurant and retail food service managers and employees need to be aware of the serious nature of food allergies, including allergic reactions, anaphylaxis, and death; to know the eight major food allergens; to understand food allergen ingredient identities and labeling; and to avoid cross-contact during food preparation and service. This bill will clarify that as part of their duties, the Certified Food Manager will also now be required to provide training on food allergy awareness training to the "person in charge" and the food handlers, as it relates to their assigned duties. Currently ServSafe and the other approved testing providers already include food allergy awareness as part of the training curriculum. 2)Double referral. This bill has been double-referred. Should it pass out of this committee, it will be referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. 3)Related legislation. SB 1258 (Huff) requires a school district, county office of education, and charter school to develop a comprehensive policy, as specified, in coordination with specified individuals, to protect pupils with allergies. Sb 1258 is currently pending in this committee. SB 969 (Nguyen) would permit a food facility to sell Vietnamese rice cakes, as defined, that have been at room temperature for up to 48 hours, notwithstanding provisions of law that require potentially hazardous foods to either be refrigerated or kept hot. SB 969 is currently pending in this committee. 4)Prior legislation. AB 2130 (Pan and Gatto, Chapter 75, Statutes of 2014), repealed provisions of law enacted last year that prohibits retail food employees from contacting exposed ready-to-eat foods with their bare hands, and replaces these provisions with the law that existed prior to the enactment of these provisions, which require food employees to minimize bare hand contact with ready-to-eat foods. SB 1067 (Huff) Page 7 of ? AB 1252 (Committee on Health), made numerous technical, clarifying, and non-controversial changes to the CalCode, and prohibited bare hand contact with ready-to-eat food without prior authorization from the local environmental health department. SB 144 (Runner, Chapter 23, Statutes of 2006), established the CalCode in order to create uniformity between California's retail food safety laws and those of other states, as well as to enhance food safety laws based on the best available science. 5)Support. This bill is supported by the California Association of Environmental Health Administrators (CAEHA), which states it will make several technical changes to CalCode to ensure that California law is more consistent with the nationally-adopted Model Food Code. CAEHA states that it is a founding member of the California Retail Food Safety Coalition, a collaboration of more than 60 federal, state and local regulators and retail food industry representatives who have been working for the past 15 years to improve our California retail food safety laws and make them more consistent with the Model Food Code which is periodically updated. CAEHA states that in addition to establishing clear allergen awareness knowledge for persons in charge of retail food outlets, the bill addresses several other inconsistencies in CalCode, including those pertaining to HACCP plans and health risk disclosure, and provides for greater opportunities for juicing fresh vegetables. SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION : Support: California Association of Environmental Health Administrators Oppose: None received -- END --