BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  SB 359
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 8, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                   SB 359 (Hernandez) - As Amended:  June 27, 2012 

          Policy Committee:                              HealthVote:14 - 0 


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

           SUMMARY  

          This bill makes a number of technical, clarifying, and 
          conforming changes to existing law governing food safety and 
          sanitation requirements for retail food facilities in 
          California.  Specifically, this bill:

          1)Allows the hot holding of nonprepackaged, potentially 
            hazardous food to be part of limited food preparation under 
            certain conditions.

          2)Requires food handler employees to wash their hands before 
            initially donning gloves for working with food, when changing 
            tasks, prior to working with ready-to-eat or raw foods, and 
            when gloves become damaged or soiled.  

          3)Prescribes requirements for the use of single-use gloves and 
            prohibits them from being washed for subsequent use.

          4)Requires an employee with a cut, sore, rash, lesion, or wound 
            to take specified precautions when contacting food, and 
            prohibits an employee who has an open or draining lesion or 
            wound from handling food.

          5)Authorizes food facilities to use temporary alternative 
            storage methods and locations for food storage as approved by 
            the local environmental health department (LEHD). 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          There are no significant costs associated with this legislation. 









                                                                  SB 359
                                                                  Page  2


           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  .  This bill makes several changes to the code 
            sections governing health and sanitation standards for retail 
            food facilities. This bill specifies employees must wash their 
            hands before donning gloves for working with food.  This bill 
            prohibits single-use gloves from being washed for subsequent 
            use. This bill provides that an employee with a lesion or 
            wound is prohibited from handling food.  This bill also makes 
            several technical changes to the laws governing the use of 
            systems for washing hands and dishes in mobile facilities.


           2)Background  . Existing law, the California Retail Food Code 
            (CODE), establishes uniform health and sanitation standards 
            for mobile food facilities and retail food facilities, as 
            defined.  The law requires the Department of Public Health to 
            adopt regulations to implement and administer those 
            provisions, and delegates primary enforcement duties to local 
            health agencies.  A violation of any of these provisions is 
            punishable as a misdemeanor.

            The Code requires food employees to report to the person in 
            charge of a food facility when a food employee has a lesion or 
            wound that is open or draining unless specified conditions to 
            cover or protect the lesion are met. The Code requires all 
            employees to wash their hands in specified instances, 
            including before donning gloves for working with food.

            The Code also requires gloves to be worn when contacting food 
            and food-contact surfaces under specified conditions, 
            including when the employee has any cuts, sores, or rashes.  
            Gloves are required to be changed, replaced, or washed as 
            often as hand washing is required.


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