BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1465
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 3, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
William W. Monning, Chair
SB 1465 (Yee) - As Amended: June 27, 2012
SENATE VOTE : Not relevant.
SUBJECT : Food safety: Asian rice-based noodles: Korean rice
cakes.
SUMMARY : Exempts Asian rice-based noodles formulated with a
nonanimal-based ingredient, including, but not limited to,
sodium acid sulfate, that maintains the noodles as a
non-potentially hazardous food, from existing law requiring
Asian rice-based noodles that have been kept at room temperature
to have a maximum shelf life of four hours. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Revises the statement that must be included on the label of
Asian rice-based noodles to specify that the noodles must be
consumed within one day of manufacture, rather than within
four hours under current law.
2)Clarifies that current law requiring Asian rice-based noodles
that have been kept at room temperature to have a maximum
shelf life of four hours shall not apply to Asian rice-based
noodles that contain a nonanimal-based ingredient, including,
but not limited to, sodium acid sulfate, to maintain the Asian
rice-based noodles at a pH of 4.6 or below, as specified; and,
that do not support the rapid and progressive growth of
infectious or toxigenic micro-organisms.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the California Retail Food Code (CRFC),
administered by the Department of Public Health (DPH), to
govern all aspects of retail food safety and sanitation in
California and makes local environmental health departments
(LEHDs) primarily responsible for enforcement through local
food safety inspection programs.
2)Defines, with specified exceptions, a retail food facility as
an operation that stores, prepares, packages, serves, vends,
or otherwise provides food for human consumption at the retail
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level.
3)Defines a "potentially hazardous food" (PHF) as a food that
requires time or temperature control to limit pathogenic
micro-organism growth or toxin formation, as specified; and
excludes from the definition of PHF a food with a pH level of
4.6 or below and a food that does not support the rapid and
progressive growth of infectious or toxigenic micro-organisms,
as specified.
4)Defines an Asian rice-based noodle to mean a confection that
contains rice powder, water, wheat starch, and vegetable
cooking oil. Specifies that the ingredients shall not include
any animal fats or any other products derived from animals.
5)Requires manufacturers of Asian rice-based noodles to label
the noodles to indicate the date and time of manufacture and
include a statement that the noodles must be consumed within
four hours of manufacture.
6)Allows a food facility to sell Asian rice-based noodles that
have been kept at room temperature for no more than four
hours.
7)Requires Asian rice-based noodles that have been kept at room
temperature to be consumed, cooked, or destroyed in a manner
approved by the LEHD within four hours manufacture.
8)Specifies that, at the end of the operating day, Asian
rice-based noodles that have been kept at room temperature for
more than four hours must be destroyed in a manner approved by
the LEHD.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has not yet been analyzed by a fiscal
committee.
COMMENTS :
1)PURPOSE OF THIS BILL . According to the author, this bill is
intended as a follow up measure to prior legislation, SB 888
(Yee), Chapter 508, Statutes of 2010, which allows the sale of
Asian rice-based noodles that have been kept out of
refrigeration for no more than four hours and require
manufacturers to label the product with a time and date stamp
and a statement indicating that the noodles must be consumed
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within four hours of manufacture. The author contends that
the four hour timeframe set by SB 888 has created problems for
some manufacturers in Southern California over the course of
transporting the product to various buyers throughout the
region. The author states that, in order to extend the shelf
life of the product, some manufacturers have added sodium acid
sulfate, a chemical food additive, to the product that renders
it non-potentially hazardous. As a result, the author argues
that this bill is needed to clarify that Asian rice-based
noodles formulated with sodium acid sulfate, or another
nonanimal-based ingredient, that maintain the noodles at a pH
level of below 4.6 are not considered PHF and therefore are
not subject to state regulation.
2)BACKGROUND . Asian rice-based noodles are by a traditional
method that includes cooking by steam at a minimum of 130
degrees Fahrenheit for at least four minutes. The noodles are
usually made from dough of finely ground rice and water and
are grayish-white in color. They are available in two
distinct forms, rice stick noodles, which are thin and
thread-like, and broad rice stick noodles, which are flat and
ribbon-like. Asian rice-based noodles are commonly used in
soups and stir-fry dishes throughout Asia including China,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
3)INFORMATIONAL HEARING . On February 3, 2012, the author
convened a hearing of his Select Committee on Asian Pacific
Islander Affairs to discuss current regulation of Asian
rice-based noodles. At the hearing, the committee heard
concerns from noodle manufacturers regarding their effort to
comply with SB 888. Noodle producers from Northern California
testified that the current four hour time frame does not pose
compliance issues while Southern California manufacturers
stated that compliance is challenging because many of their
retail buyers are based in the San Diego, Fresno, and
Bakersfield areas and the drive time to transport the product
often extends beyond the four hour limit, forcing retailers to
destroy thousands of dollars in product.
DPH reports that, in the wake of the hearing, and at the request
of the author, the Food and Drug Branch (FDB) worked with the
manufacturers on a solution, which was initiated at a meeting
with select industry members following the hearing. FDB
assisted one Southern California producer, Lucky K.T. Company,
Inc., in El Monte, California, and its consultant in
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identifying a food additive (sodium acid sulfate) that would
adjust the pH of their noodles to a level below 4.6. By
statutory definition, a food with a pH below 4.6 is not
considered PHF and does not require refrigeration. According
to DPH, this Southern California firm submitted various
samples of their reformulated product to a private lab to
confirm the pH and provided FDB with the results. Based on
the revised formulation and the pH lab results, FDB issued a
letter to this manufacturer advising that their noodles were
no longer considered PHF and would not be required to comply
with refrigeration rules, provided the manufacturer continues
to follow the formulation submitted to DPH.
4)SUPPORT . Various Asian community groups, noodle
manufacturers, and retailers write in support that this bill
preserves an important cultural staple, respects California's
diverse cultures, and safeguards consumers, small businesses,
and the economy by ensuring that the noodles continue to be
produced safely.
5)OPPOSE UNLESS AMENDED . The California Association of
Environmental Health Administrators (CAEHA), which represents
the local environmental health jurisdictions, writes that it
has removed its opposition to the prior version of this bill,
based on recent amendments. CAEHA states that this bill now
ensures that the necessary food safety protections are kept in
place if the Legislature elects to treat Asian rice-based
noodles differently from any other noodles or food. CAEHA
remains strongly concerned with loading the CRFC with
unnecessary provisions that regulate food items based on their
ethnic origin rather than science-based time and temperature
measurements.
6)PRIOR LEGISLATION .
a) SB 888 establishes a maximum four-hour shelf life for
keeping Asian rice-based noodles at room temperature and
requires manufacturers to label the product with the date
and time of manufacture and a statement requiring the
noodles to be consumed within four hours of manufacture.
b) AB 2214 (Tran), Chapter 160, Statutes of 2006, directs
DPH to conduct a study of the sale and consumption of three
traditional Asian foods, Banh Tet, Banh Chung, and Moon
Cakes, after enforcement actions by local jurisdictions to
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require refrigeration of these products resulted in
complaints from the manufacturers and the community that
the products are unpalatable after refrigeration.
c) AB 2763 (Diaz) of 2004 would have allowed temporary food
facilities to maintain sushi, teriyaki chicken, and
Japanese sweet cakes at room temperature for up to 24
hours, and would have required these foods to be labeled
with the time of manufacture. This bill failed passage in
the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
d) AB 187 (Liu), Chapter 204, Statutes of 2001, authorizes
the sale of Korean rice cakes that have been at room
temperature for no more than 24 hours.
7)POLICY COMMENT . The CRFC defines PHF as food requiring time
or temperature control to limit pathogenic micro-organism
growth or toxin formation, including food with a pH level of
4.6 or below and food that has been shown not to support the
rapid and progressive growth of infectious or toxigenic
micro-organisms. This bill exempts Asian rice-based noodles
that meet these conditions from consideration as PHF. Given
that foods that are non-PHF are not subject to state law, the
need for this bill is unclear.
8)DRAFTING ERROR . The author has indicated that Section 1 of
this bill, which changes labeling requirements for Asian
rice-based noodles to disclose that noodles must be consumed
within one day of manufacture, rather than four hours as
required under current law, is language that was inadvertently
left in the bill from a previous version and it is the
author's intent to correct this error with an amendment to
reinstate current law.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Chinese Cultural Exchange & Trading Association
American Chinese Restaurant Association
Delicious Food Corner
Dragon City Inc.
Kun Wo Food Products Co.
Southern California Chinese Noodle Manufacturers Coalition
Super King Inc.
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Vietnamese Chinese Mutual Aid and Friendship Association of
Oakland
Zen Peninsula
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Cassie Royce / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097