Chapter 21
FOOD AND FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS
Sections:
21-1. Definitions – Food handling establishment.
21-6. Same – Person; gender; singular and plural.
21-7. Certificate of inspection – Operative date.
21-9. Permits – Suspension or revocation – Notice.
21-10. Same – Same – Establishment closed while in effect.
21-12. Same – Issuance standards.
21-13. Inspection of food handling establishments.
21-14. Bacterial examination of eating and drinking utensils.
21-15. Examination and condemnation of unwholesome, adulterated or misbranded food or drink.
21-16. Examination and rejection of damaged, broken, unfit or unsuitable equipment or utensils.
21-18. Notification of disease.
21-1 Definitions – Food handling establishment.
The term “food handling establishment” shall apply to all individuals or firms operating within the unincorporated limits of the county who handle or process food for human consumption, including meat markets and grocery stores, with the exception of canneries or similar concerns whose final product is sterilized and packaged in a protective container which renders it safe from further contamination. This definition shall not include slaughterhouses, poultry dressing plants, dairies or farms. (Ord. No. 319.)
21-2 Same – Utensils.
The term “utensils” shall include all utensils and equipment used in the storage, processing, preparation or serving of food and drink intended for human consumption, with which food or drink comes into contact during such use. (Ord. No. 319.)
21-3 Same – Operator.
The term “operator” shall mean every person, owner or agent, conducting the business of a restaurant or other food handling establishment. (Ord. No. 319.)
21-4 Same – Employee.
The term “employee” shall mean any person, except employees of individuals or concerns who are excluded in section 21-1 from the definition of food handling establishment, who is engaged in the handling, preparation, packaging or serving of food or drink, or in the handling of utensils used in the preparation, packaging or serving of food or drink or who is employed with or without pay, at any time in any room in which food or drink is prepared, packaged or served; provided, that no person whose employment is temporary in nature and entirely unrelated to the business of food handling shall be deemed to be an employee. (Ord. No. 319.)
21-5 Same – Health officer.
The term “health officer” shall mean the health officer of the county or his authorized agent. (Ord. No. 319.)
21-6 Same – Person; gender; singular and plural.
The term “person” shall include persons, firms, corporations or associations. The masculine gender includes the feminine and neuter, and the singular includes the plural, and plural the singular. (Ord. No. 319.)
21-7 Certificate of inspection – Operative date.
Following ninety days from the effective date of this chapter, it shall be unlawful for any person to open, operate or maintain a restaurant or other public eating place without first obtaining a certificate of inspection from the health officer of the county. (Ord. No. 319.)
21-8 Same – Application.
Application for a certificate of inspection shall be filed with the health officer of the county upon forms to be prescribed by him which shall include:
(a) The name and address of the applicant, and if a partnership, corporation or association, the names and addresses of all partners, and the names and addresses of the president, vice-president, secretary and managing officer of the corporation or association.
(b) The location of the premises for which the permit is sought.
(c) The certificate of inspection shall expire one year from date of issue. (Ord. No. 319.)
21-9 Permits – Suspension or revocation – Notice.
The health officer shall suspend or revoke permits for violation of this chapter by notice in writing delivered personally or by mail to the operator, and whenever such action is warranted for the protection of the health and safety of the public. (Ord. No. 319.)
21-10 Same – Same – Establishment closed while in effect.
Upon receipt of notice of suspension or revocation of a permit the operator shall close the food handling establishment until such time as the order of suspension is rescinded by the health officer, or until the board of supervisors, after the hearing herein provided for, has granted permission to resume operation. (Ord. No. 319.)
21-11 Same – Same – Appeal.
An operator whose permit has been suspended or revoked may appeal to the board of supervisors within five days after receipt of the notice suspending or revoking the permit. The appeal shall be made by filing with the county clerk a statement in writing setting forth the grounds of the appeal. The county clerk shall present the statement together with a copy of the notice of suspension or revocation, to the board of supervisors at its next regular meeting. The appealing party shall have the right to be represented by counsel and shall have the right to offer evidence. The board of supervisors, within ten days after the appeal has been presented, shall affirm, modify or overrule this revocation or suspension. (Ord. No. 319.)
21-12 Same – Issuance; standards.
No permit shall be granted to any person to operate a food handling establishment if the condition of the building, premises, equipment, apparatus or the reasonable facilities for the establishment, maintenance, conducting or operating of the business is insufficient, unfit, or incapable of being used for the proper maintenance of such business in the manner as to comply with:
(a) The building and equipment requirements made mandatory by this chapter.
(b) All other ordinances of the county in any manner pertaining thereto.
(c) All laws and statutes of the board of health of the state in any manner pertaining to the operation of a restaurant or food handling establishment.
(d) All rules and regulations regarding food handling establishments promulgated by the director of public health of the state or by the health officer of the county. (Ord. No. 319, (part).)
21-13 Inspection of food handling establishments.
At least once every six months the health officer shall cause every restaurant and food handling establishment located within the county to be inspected. A system of grading for restaurants may be instituted at the discretion of the health officer. (Ord. No. 319, (part).)
21-14 Bacterial examination of eating and drinking utensils.
The health officer may from time to time cause a bacterial examination to be made of such eating and drinking utensils as he may elect to test at any restaurant. In any such test the resulting bacterial count exceeding one hundred per utensil surface area examined shall be considered as unsatisfactory. Any three such unsatisfactory results from such tests taken in any restaurant at any sixty-day period shall warrant the closing of the restaurant concerned until such a time as it has been demonstrated that any condition or conditions causing such unsatisfactory utensil sanitization have been corrected. (Ord. No. 319, (part).)
21-15 Examination and condemnation of unwholesome, adulterated or misbranded food or drink.
Samples of food or drink may be taken and examined by the health officer as often as may be necessary for the detection of unwholesomeness, adulteration or misbranding. The health officer may condemn, denature, remove and destroy any food or drink which is unwholesome, adulterated or misbranded, or he may forbid the sale for human consumption of any food or drink which is adulterated or misbranded. (Ord. No. 319, (part).)
21-16 Examination and rejection of damaged, broken, unfit or unsuitable equipment or utensils.
Whenever the health officer, upon examination or inspection, ascertains that any fixture or utensil used in the operation of any restaurant is unfit or unsuitable for its intended or its actual use by reason of previous use for any unclean purpose, by lack of compliance with any law or regulation pertaining thereto, or by reason of its being damaged or broken, or if for any reason its use is likely to prove a menace to the public health, it shall be the duty of the health officer and he is hereby empowered to reject any such abovementioned article and prohibit its use within the establishment. (Ord. No. 319, (part).)
21-17 List of employees.
It shall be the duty of any operator of a restaurant to keep an accurate, up-to-date list of all persons employed therein and to furnish a true copy of such list to the health officer upon request. (Ord. No. 319, (part).)
21-18 Notification of disease.
It shall be the duty of the employees of a food handling establishment to notify the operator if he or she contracts any communicable disease. It shall be the duty of the operator to immediately notify the health officer that this condition exists.
Upon receipt of such notice from the operator, it shall be the duty of the health officer to investigate the condition set forth in such report and to institute such measures as may be necessary for the public health. (Ord. No. 319, (part).)
21-19 Food handlers.
Should the health officer deem it advisable in the better interest of the health and safety of the public, he may require any or all food handlers in a food handling establishment to complete in a satisfactory manner a course of instruction in food handling which shall be provided free by the county public health department. The health officer may further require any food handler which he believes is in the better interest of the health and welfare of the county to have medical and laboratory tests performed for tuberculosis or other diseases associated with food and utensils. (Ord. No. 319, (part); Ord. No. 340, § 1; Ord. No. 368, § 1.)