BILL ANALYSIS
SB 241
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 7, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Dave Jones, Chair
SB 241 (Runner) - As Amended: July 1, 2009
SENATE VOTE : 36-0
SUBJECT : Retail food facilities.
SUMMARY : Makes a number of technical and clarifying changes to
food safety laws governing retail food facilities regulated
under the California Retail Food Code (CRFC) and establishes a
new category of single operating site mobile food facilities
(MFFs) subject to the CRFC. Includes an urgency clause to make
this bill effective immediately upon enactment. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Revises the definitions of egg, egg shell, prepackaged food,
produce stand, vermin, cold water, fabric implement, frozen
food, acute gastrointestinal illness, and potentially
hazardous food to be consistent with the federal Food and Drug
Administration's (FDA) Model Food Code.
2)Repeals and recasts existing provisions that exempt specified
facilities from the definition of a food facility for purposes
of complying with the CRFC.
3)Clarifies that premises set aside for wine tasting are exempt
from the definition of food facility, if no food, other than
crackers, are served, or beverages, other than bottles of wine
and prepackaged non-potentially hazardous beverages, are sold
for onsite consumption.
4)Clarifies the content required in a food facility's Hazard
Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan.
5)Clarifies the food preparation activities that are included in
and excluded from the existing definition of limited food
preparation, as specified.
6)Revises the definition of a major violation of the CRFC to
mean a violation that may pose an imminent health hazard and
warrants immediate closure or other corrective action.
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7)Repeals the definition of slacking, which refers to a partial
thawing process, because the CRFC already requires food to be
partially thawed under refrigeration.
8)Defines "single operating site MFFs" as at least one, but no
more than four, unenclosed MFFs, and their auxiliary units,
that operate adjacent to each other at a single location.
9)Excludes, from the definition of produce stand, premises
operated by a producer selling or offering for sale only whole
produce grown by the producer, or shell eggs, or both,
provided that the sales are conducted on premises controlled
by the producer.
10)Revises the definition of temporary food facility to mean a
food facility approved by the local health officer (LHO) that
operates at a fixed location for the duration of an approved
community event or swap meet and only as part of the community
event or swap meet.
11)Specifies that the definition of transporter means any
vehicle used to transport food pursuant to a prior order from
a manufacturer, distributor, retail food facility, or other
approved source, to a retail food facility or consumer.
12)Requires the designated person in charge at all times when a
food facility is in operation and all food employees to have
knowledge of, and be properly trained in, safe food handling
practices as they relate to their assigned duties.
13)Authorizes a LHO or local environmental health department
(LEHD) to immediately restrict or exclude any food employee
from a facility or require any medical evaluation of any
employee with regard to notification of an illness that can be
transmitted by food in a food facility or by an employee of a
food facility, as specified.
14)Clarifies that all food employees preparing, serving, or
handling food or utensils must wear hair restraints and nets,
as specified.
15)Requires the owner of a food facility or the food safety
certified employee to direct food employees to report if a
food employee is diagnosed with a specified illness to the
person in charge.
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16)Authorizes only the LHO or LEHD to remove exclusions or
restrictions on a food facility related to diagnosed
illnesses, pursuant to 14) above, after the LHO provides a
written clearance stating that the excluded or restricted
employee is no longer considered infectious.
17)Prescribes specific temperatures for water relating to
handwashing facility requirements.
18)Prohibits the existing requirement for limited food
preparation to be conducted within a food compartment or as
approved by the LEHD from being construed to require an
additional food compartment when adding ingredients to a
beverage or dispensing into a serving container when the
beverage is prepared for immediate service in response to a
customer's order.
19)Prohibits food stored in a private home from being used or
sold in a food facility. Current law applies this prohibition
to food prepared in a private home.
20)Requires bulk food that is available for consumer
self-service to be prominently labeled in plain view of the
customer with either the manufacturer's or processor's label
that was provided with the food, or a card, sign, or other
method of notification, as specified.
21)Clarifies conditions under which potentially hazardous foods
dispensed in serving lines and salad bars must be maintained.
22)Prohibits any partitioning used to separate food facility
operations from living or sleeping quarters located on the
premises of a food facility from having doors or other
openings.
23)Prohibits a MFF operating within a fully enclosed structure
from being required to provide a secondary food compartment
over food preparation areas.
24)Allows no more than four MFFs operating as a single operating
site MFF to share a warewashing sink under specified
conditions.
25)Specifies, for purposes of permitting and enforcement
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pursuant to 24) above, that the permitholder of each single
operating site MFF location must be one and the same.
26)Exempts MFFs that handle only whole produce or the bulk
dispensing of nonpotentially hazardous beverages from existing
requirements governing handwashing sinks and handwashing
facilities.
27)Exempts MFFs that handle only certain nonpotentially
hazardous foods, steamed or boiled hot dogs, and tamales in
the original inedible wrapper, from existing requirements
governing warewashing sinks.
28)Requires satellite food service operations that handle
nonprepackaged food to be equipped with approved handwashing
and warewashing facilities that are either permanently plumbed
or self-contained.
29)Specifies, for purposes of permitting and enforcement, that
the permitholder of a permanent food facility and the
permitholder of the satellite food service must be the same.
30)Exempts temporary food facilities that handle only
prepackaged food from the existing requirement to provide a
handwashing facility, as specified.
31)Eliminates duplicative language in current law related to the
prohibition of the storage of food, utensils, and equipment in
toilet rooms.
32)Makes additional clarifying changes to provisions governing
the heating and cooling temperatures of food, including pasta
or any other food stuffed with fish, meat or poultry; the
separation of raw and cooked ready-to-eat food to prevent
cross-contamination; manual and mechanical sanitization
standards for equipment; and, nonconforming structural
requirements for food facilities with regard to plan reviews
and permits.
33)Requires moneys collected from fees for permits,
registration, or related inspection services to only be spent
for the purpose of administering and enforcing the CRFC.
EXISTING LAW :
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1)Establishes the CRFC, which, effective July 1, 2007, repeals
the California Uniform Retail Food Facilities Law (CURFFL),
and recasts, expands, and revises its provisions into the CRFC
to govern all aspects of retail food safety and sanitation in
California.
2)Requires the Department of Public Health (DPH) to adopt
regulations to implement and administer CRFC and makes LEHDs
primarily responsible for enforcing CRFC through local food
safety inspection programs.
3)Authorizes LEHDs to inspect food facilities, issue and suspend
permits, conduct hearings, take samples or other evidence,
impound food or equipment, and issue inspection reports.
4)Defines "food facility" as an operation that stores, prepares,
packages, serves, vends, or otherwise provides food for human
consumption at the retail level. Includes in this definition
permanent and nonpermanent food facilities, including, but not
limited to: a) public and private school cafeterias; b)
restricted food service facilities; c) licensed health care
facilities; d) commissaries; e) MFFs; f) mobile support units;
g) temporary food facilities; h) vending machines; and, i)
certified farmers' markets, for purposes of permitting and
enforcement.
5)Defines a MFF as any vehicle used in conjunction with a
commissary or other permanent food facility upon which food is
sold or distributed at retail. A MFF does not include a
transporter used to transport packaged foods from a food
facility, or other approved source to the consumer.
6)Defines satellite food service as a remotely located food
service operation that is conducted on the same property as,
in reasonable proximity to, and in conjunction with and by, a
fully enclosed permanent food facility. Satellite food
service does not include food service operations located
within a fully enclosed permanent food facility.
7)Defines mobile support unit as a vehicle used in conjunction
with a commissary or other permanent food facility that
travels to and services MFFs as needed to: replenish supplies,
including food and potable water; clean the interior of the
unit; or, dispose of liquid or solid wastes.
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8)Defines a temporary food facility as a food facility approved
by the LEHD that may be readily disassembled for storage or
for transporting, and readily assembled to its original
integrity at a different location, is easily movable, and
operates at a fixed location for the duration of an approved
community event or at a swap meet.
9)Excludes from the definition of food facility, child day care
facilities, community care facilities, residential care
facilities for the elderly, premises set aside for wine
tasting if no food or beverage is sold for onsite consumption,
and other specified entities.
10)Requires all food employees to be instructed on personal
hygiene and food safety and requires food employees to report
to the person in charge if an employee or applicant is
diagnosed with a specified illness.
11)Requires the person in charge in a food facility to notify
the LEHD when a food employee or food employee applicant has
been diagnosed with an illness caused by a specified
infectious agent.
12)Requires the immediate restriction or exclusion of any
employee or food employee applicant from the affected food
facility when there is an illness that can be transmitted by
food in a food facility or by a food employee.
13)Requires a food facility to provide an adequate, protected,
pressurized, potable supply of hot and cold water, and
specifies that handwashing facilities must be provided within
or adjacent to toilet rooms.
14)Requires a temporary food facility to provide one toilet
facility with approved handwashing facilities for each 15
employees within 200 feet of the temporary facility.
15)Prohibits the storage of food, utensils, and equipment in
toilet rooms.
16)Makes a violation of the CRFC a misdemeanor punishable by a
fine, imprisonment, or both.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
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COMMENTS :
1)PURPOSE OF THIS BILL . According to the sponsor of this bill,
the California Retail Food Safety Coalition (CRFSC), a
broad-based coalition of federal, state, and local regulators
and the retail food industry, this bill is needed to make
technical and nonsubstantive clarifications that were
inadvertently omitted when CURFFL was changed to the CRFC.
The author notes, as with all bills in fields that continue to
see advances in technology, there were several unforeseen
consequences of the passage of the CRFC, and, as a result,
subsequent clean-up legislation is necessary to ensure the
best and most effective implementation of the state's
principal retail food sanitation law.
Additionally, the author notes that the provisions revising the
definition of a MFF to include a single operating site are
needed to allow LEHDs to apply appropriate operating
requirements based on the size and space of each mobile unit.
According to the author, the strict CRFC permitting
requirements apply to all MFFs, regardless of size, and have
driven many operators of smaller coffee carts and limited food
preparation kiosks, such as hot dog carts, out of business.
The author states that the changes to the definition of a MFF
in this bill will ensure that smaller food units like carts
and kiosks will not have to comply with the same extensive
permitting requirements under the CRFC that are applicable to
larger MFFs, such as lunch or catering trucks.
2)CRFC . The CRFC was enacted on July 1, 2007, to repeal CURFFL
and enhance food safety laws based on the best available
science. According to the CRFSC, CRFC is modeled after the
FDA's Model Food Code, which is updated every four years.
CRFC makes several enhancements to CURFFL, relative to
documentation, uniformity and consistency, best available
science, at-risk populations, and flexibility of provisions.
With the enactment of CRFC, LEHDs have re-focused their food
facility inspections with an emphasis on violations relating
to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's
(CDC) identified food-borne illness risk factors and public
health interventions. The CDC food-borne illness risk factors
are: food from unsafe sources; inadequate cooking; improper
holding temperatures; contaminated equipment; and, poor
personal hygiene. The public health interventions identified
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by CDC include: demonstration of knowledge; employee health;
time and temperature control; hands as a source of
contamination; and, consumer advisories.
3)FEDERAL MODEL FOOD CODE . The FDA Food Code is a model food
safety guideline for retail food operators and facilities to
provide best practices for the prevention of foodborne
illness. It assists food protection 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 nursing home facilities.
Local, state, and federal regulators use the FDA Food Code as
a model to develop or update their own food safety rules to be
consistent with national food regulatory policy, and to
promote uniformity across the country. According to the
Association of Food and Drug Officials, 48 of 56 states and
territories, covering 79% of the U.S. population, have adopted
food laws mirroring the FDA Food Code.
4)MFFs . MFFs are vehicles staffed by one or more persons
designed for the preparation and serving of a variety of
foods. Current law requires MFFs to be installed with the
same types of equipment found in permanent food service
establishments, such as mechanical refrigeration, an onboard
water system with a water heater, and sinks with three
separate washing compartments, known as warewashing sinks.
MFFs are required to operate in conjunction with a permitted
restaurant establishment (a commissary). The commissary must
hold a valid health permit and be able to supply the necessary
support services for the MFF. For example, MFF equipment must
be washed and sanitized using the facilities of the commissary
and the commissary must provide services for taking on potable
water and discarding of wastewater. A MFF is required to
return to its commissary for servicing at least once each day
of operation. Foods must be prepared on the mobile unit, or
in the approved permitted commissary (restaurant). An
unenclosed MFF, such as a cart, is a unit limited to certain
types of food handling and operated by an employee standing on
the ground adjacent to the unit. The types of foods which may
be sold from a cart are prepackaged foods, unpackaged,
non-potentially hazardous foods, hot dogs, and cappuccino.
5)HACCP . According to the FDA, HACCP is a systematic approach
to identifying, evaluating, and controlling food safety
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hazards. Food safety hazards are biological, chemical, or
physical agents that are reasonably likely to cause illness or
injury if left uncontrolled. HACCP plans are designed to
prevent the occurrence of potential food safety problems by
assessing the inherent hazards attributable to a product or a
process, determining the necessary steps to control the
identified hazards, and implementing active managerial control
practices to eliminate or minimize the hazards. HACCP plan
requirements for specific food handling processes identify
critical control points (CCPs), such as final cooking
temperatures for meat and poultry, hot and cold holding
temperatures of potentially hazardous foods, and food employee
handwashing procedures, during the preparation and service of
food products to ensure food safety. The HACCP plan includes
a process to verify that the CCPs have been met, a corrective
action plan to address instances in which the CCPs are not
met, and a record keeping system to document compliance with
the HACCP plan. A HACCP plan is reviewed as part of a
facility's routine permitting inspection.
6)FOOD-BORNE ILLNESSES . The CDC estimates that 76 million
Americans get sick, 300,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 die
from food-borne illnesses each year. Food-borne disease is
caused by consuming foods or beverages contaminated with
disease-causing microbes, or pathogens. Common food-borne
infections are those caused by Campylobacter bacteria, found
in raw or undercooked poultry meat; salmonella bacteria that
can spread to humans through a variety of different foods of
animal origin; and, E. coli bacteria found in cattle and other
similar animals. Common symptoms of food-borne illnesses
include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea. In
most states, including California, diagnosed cases of
salmonella, E. coli, and other serious infections are
routinely reported to state health departments, which, in
turn, report them to CDC.
7)RELATED LEGISLATION .
a) SB 173 (Florez), pending in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, authorizes the State Public Health Officer to
adopt regulations for the voluntary recall of food
suspected of carrying an illness, infection, pathogen,
contagion, toxin, or condition that, without intervention,
could kill or seriously affect the health of humans.
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b) SB 550 (Florez), set for hearing in the Assembly
Business and Professions Committee on July 7, 2009,
requires a grocery store that uses a programmable checkout
scanner to ensure that when a recalled product is scanned,
the programmable checkout scanner will notify the employee
and customer that the product being purchased is subject to
a recall.
c) SB 453 (Padilla) would have required at least one
accredited food safety certification examination to be
offered online. SB 453 was held on the Senate
Appropriations Committee suspense file.
8)PRIOR LEGISLATION .
a) AB 2168 (Jones), Chapter 447, Statutes of 2008, includes
farm stands, as defined, for purposes of permitting and
enforcement, within the definition of food facility, and
makes other changes regarding the direct sale of
agriculture products by farmers to the public and the
direct marketing of agricultural products by retail stands.
b) SB 1359 (Runner) of 2008, the provisions of which are
included in this bill, would have made a number of
technical and clarifying changes to food safety laws
governing retail food facilities regulated under the CRFC.
SB 1359 was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger who, in his
veto message, stated that it was due to the historic delay
in passing the 2008-2009 State Budget.
c) AB 2540 (Mendoza) of 2008, the provisions of which are
included in this bill, would have established "single
operating site MFFs" as a new category of food facilities
regulated by the CRFC. AB 2540 was vetoed by Governor
Schwarzenegger who, in his veto message, stated that it was
due to the historic delay in passing the 2008-2009 State
Budget.
d) AB 1773 (Hayashi) of 2008 would have required the
Director of the DPH to review and make determinations
regarding the food safety and dietary service requirements
for long-term health care facilities. AB 1773 was placed
on the inactive file on the Senate Floor.
e) SB 744 (Runner), Chapter 96, Statutes of 2007, makes
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various technical, clarifying, and nonsubstantive changes
to the CRFC.
f) SB 144 (Runner), Chapter 23, Statutes of 2006, repeals
CURFFL, and effective July 1, 2007, recasts, expands and
revises its provisions into the CRFC to govern all aspects
of retail food sanitation in California.
9)SUPPORT . CRFSC states that it is sponsoring this bill to
enhance food safety and consistency in retail food facility
permitting and inspections. The Orange County Cappuccino Cart
Association, which represents small owner operators, maintains
that expeditious passage of this bill is needed to minimize
further disruption to food cart operators whose businesses
have come to a complete halt because of overly-restrictive
CRFC requirements. The California Retailers Association and
California Restaurant Association also write in support of
this bill, stating that it reflects the latest updating of the
CRFC as each year there are technical, non-controversial
corrections and clarifications that are needed. Supporters
add that this bill represents consensus between all parties
subject to the requirements of the state's food facility laws,
including restaurants, retailers, hotels and motels, fair
operators, vendors at certified farmers' markets, food and
beverage cart operators, and temporary food facilities.
10)NEUTRAL . DPH has adopted a neutral position on this bill.
DPH agrees with the technical corrections and clarifications
to the CRFC proposed by this bill, which represent
consensus-based efforts of industry, state, and local
regulators. DPH states that this bill would also eliminate
some of the current statewide inconsistencies in
interpretation and enforcement of the CRFC requirements for
satellite food service and MFFs.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Retail Food Safety Coalition (sponsor)
California Association of Environmental Health Administrators
California Restaurant Association
California Retailers Association
Orange County Cappuccino Cart Association
One individual
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Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Cassie Rafanan / HEALTH / (916)
319-2097