BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D., Chair
BILL NO: SB 1067
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|AUTHOR: |Huff |
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|VERSION: |March 29, 2016 |
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|HEARING DATE: |April 6, 2016 | | |
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|CONSULTANT: |Vince Marchand |
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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