CHAPTER 2. FOOD HANDLING
Article 1. General Provisions
5-2.101 Definitions.
For the purposes of this chapter, certain words and phrases used herein are defined as follows:
a. Employee shall mean any person who, with or without pay, works or handles food in a food handling establishment or who offers food for sale.
b. Food shall mean and include all articles used for food, drink, confectionery or condiment, whether simple or compound, and all substances and ingredients used in the preparation thereof.
c. Food handling establishment shall mean restaurants and food selling and processing establishments; provided, however, the provisions of this chapter shall not apply to meat, milk and poultry processing establishments, frozen food lockers, canneries and slaughter houses inspected by Federal or State agencies, nor to such other plants and establishments for the packing, treatment and processing of agricultural products and crops of all kinds, including but not limited to plants or establishments for the packing, treating, canning, freezing, dehydrating and other processing and packaging of agricultural products and crops and the manufacturing or other processing of by-products therefrom, where such plants or establishments, or the products thereof, are subject to inspection by Federal or State agencies and which do not sell or deliver directly to the ultimate consumer to ensure that such products are in a sanitary condition and suitable for human consumption.
d. Food selling and processing establishment shall mean any room, building, vehicle, facility, structure or place, or portion thereof, whether stationary, moveable, permanent or temporary, which is maintained, used or operated for the purpose of commercially selling, storing, packaging, transporting, making, cooking, mixing, processing, bottling, canning, packing, slaughtering or otherwise preparing or handling food, or vendors servicing vending machines handling unwrapped, unbottled or unpackaged or readily perishable food. This definition shall not include restaurants, tank trucks, fresh produce trucks, farm trucks or vehicles delivering only nonperishable food products in sealed, wrapped or bottled containers, or vending machines dispensing only bottled beverages or wrapped candy.
e. Health Officer, unless otherwise modified, shall mean the Health Officer of the City, appointed by the Council, his medical deputies, his sanitarians or his duly authorized representatives.
f. Itinerant food handling establishment shall mean one which operates for a temporary period in connection with a fair, carnival, circus, public exhibition or other similar gathering.
g. Restaurant shall mean any restaurant, coffee shop, cafeteria, short-order cafe, luncheonette, tavern, sandwich stand, soda fountain, vehicle, and any other eating or drinking establishment which sells or offers food or drink for sale to the public, as well as kitchens in which food or drink is pre-pared on the premises for sale or distribution elsewhere.
h. Utensils shall mean and include kitchenware, tableware, glassware, cutlery, containers, machinery, implements, receptacles, supplies or other equipment used for the storage, preparation, distribution or serving of food or drink. (4100, as amended by §1, Ord. 824, eff. February 18, 1966)
5-2.102 Compliance With All Laws.
All food handling establishments shall comply with all applicable statutes, ordinances and rules and regulations of Federal, State and local agencies. (4101)
5-2.103 Approval of Building Plans.
No permit shall be issued by any agency of the City to any person proposing the construction, reconstruction, alteration or use of any structure for use as a food handling establishment until such plans as relate to this chapter have been approved by the Health Officer. (4102, as amended by §2, Ord. 824, eff. February 18, 1966)
5-2.104 Food Service Openings to Outdoors.
Where food service openings to the outside are used in restaurants, such openings shall have an area not exceeding 270 square inches with a maximum width of eighteen (18") inches and a maximum height of fifteen (15") inches. Triangular wide base openings with a height not exceeding twenty-four (24") inches shall be permitted. Openings shall be separated by a minimum of three (3') feet. Such openings shall be closeable with a wire screen not coarser than sixteen (16) mesh when not in use. Each opening shall be further protected by overhead fans, or internal positive pressure which would produce an outward air flow of at least seventy-five (75) linear feet per minute as measured by a standard velometer, or shall have a system of duct work such that the discharge of air produces such outward flow of air through the opening. (4103)
5-2.105 Temperature Requirements: Readily Perishable Foods.
All readily perishable foods shall be maintained at either 45 F. or lower, or at 140 F or higher, when in storage, on display, or in transit. Accurate Fahrenheit thermometers, suitable for measuring temperatures of food, shall be conspicuously affixed to food storage equipment where possible, or shall be available at every establishment. Waste water from refrigeration equipment in fixed establishments shall be disposed of into an approved sanitary sewage disposal system through an indirect connection. Except for properly handled game, only food intended to be sold or served to the public shall be kept in refrigerated storage cabinets. All frozen foods shall be kept at a temperature which will keep such food in a frozen state. No food which has been thawed shall be refrozen.
Readily perishable foods shall include, but not be limited to, the following items:
a. Custard and creme-filled pastries, both real and synthetic, prepared salads with dressing, sandwiches using mayonnaise or salad dressing in the filling, and precooked meat, poultry and fish products not hermetically sealed;
b. Fresh meats, fresh shell fish, fresh poultry and fresh fish;
c. All dairy products from sources not under inspection by other agencies; and
d. Canned hams and canned picnics containing labels indicating the product must be kept under refrigeration. (4104, as amended by §3, Ord. 824, eff. February 18, 1966)
5-2.106 Keeping Live Animals.
It shall be unlawful for any person to keep live chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys or other live fowl or animals where foodstuffs are prepared for sale or sold, or in any cellar or basement underneath any grocery store, market or place where foodstuffs are kept for sale. (4105)
5-2.107 Instruction in Food Handling.
If, at any time, a person working in any food handling establishment is found by the Health Officer to be handling food in a manner dangerous to the public health, the Health Officer shall have the authority to require such person and/or his employer to attend, free of charge, a course of instruction which shall be provided by the Health Officer, or to discontinue handling food, or both. (4106, as amended by §4, Ord. 824, eff. February 18, 1966)
5-2.108 Right of Entry.
It shall be the duty of any Health Officer or Meat Inspector, and they are hereby empowered, to enter and inspect any premises regulated by this chapter during regular working hours. (4107)
Article 2. Public Health Licenses and Fees1
5-2.201 Adoption by Reference.
Ordinance No. 74-1 of the County of Contra Costa on Public Health Licenses & Fees, three copies of which are on file in the office of the City Clerk, is hereby adopted and referred to and by this reference expressly incorporated herein and made a part of this chapter as though fully set forth herein. (§1, Ord. 1223, eff. July 31, 1974)
Article 3. Meat and Fish
5-2.301 Inspection of Meat and Meat Products.
It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, have in possession, keep or expose for sale for human food the flesh of any cattle, hogs, sheep, swine, goats, calves, horses or meat products unless the same shall have been slaughtered or passed upon under the supervision of the United States Government Inspector, in accordance with the regulations relating to the inspection thereof, as prescribed by the Department of Agriculture of the State, or under the supervision of the Health Officer of the City or County in accordance with the provisions of this article. (4140)
5-2.302 Approval.
It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, have in possession, keep or expose for sale the flesh of cattle, hogs, calves, horses, sheep or goats, or any meat product, unless there has been placed on each primal part thereof, or on such meat products, a brand of approval of either the Bureau of Agriculture or of an authorized inspector whose brand or mark of identification is acceptable to and has been approved by the Health Department of the County. (4141)
5-2.303 Refrigeration of Meat.
(4142; repealed by §9, Ord. 824, eff. February 18, 1966)
5-2.304 Itinerant Sale of Meat.
It shall be unlawful to peddle by hand or from any vehicle, or sell from any other than a fixed place of business as provided in this chapter, any meat, meat products or dressed poultry. (4143)
5-2.305 Basement Markets.
(4144; repealed by §10, Ord. 824, eff. February 18, 1966)
5-2.306 Sanitary Conditions on Premises.
(4145; repealed by §11, Ord. 824, eff. February 18, 1966)
5-2.307 Sinks Required.
Every establishment where meat, poultry or fish is cut shall be provided with a two (2) compartment metal sink with metal drain boards located conveniently to the meat department, with an adequate supply of hot and cold water under pressure. Such sink shall be used exclusively for washing utensils commonly used by meat cutters.
The provisions of this section shall not apply to those establishments in existence on or before February 7, 1958, having a single compartment sink which effectively meets the other requirements of this chapter. When such sink is replaced, it shall meet the requirements of this section. (4146, as amended by §12, Ord. 824, eff. February 18, 1966)
5-2.308 Clothing of Food Handlers.
(4147; repealed by §13, Ord. 824, eff. February 18, 1966)
5-2.309 Trade Names on Ham and Bacon.
(4148; repealed by §14, Ord. 824, eff. February 18, 1966)
5-2.310 Packaged Meat.
(4149; repealed by §15, Ord. 824, eff. February 18, 1966)
5-2.311 Delivery Vehicles.
Delivery trucks shall be sanitary. No truck used for hauling livestock shall be used for hauling fresh meat unless such truck is washed and sterilized.
Fresh meat shall not come in contact with the floor boards or sides of trucks used for delivery and shall not come in contact with painted boxes. Truck floor boards, sides and boxes shall be covered with clean burlap cloth or paper. Meats shall be covered so as to be protected from dust, flies and rain, and a clean tarpaulin will answer this purpose.
Truck drivers shall wear clean jumpers or gowns. Calves slaughtered on ranches shall be washed inside and cleaned outside and protected from flies and dirt. (4150)
5-2.312 Sale of Horse Meat.
(4151; repealed by §15, Ord. 824, Eff. February 18, 1966)
Article 2 (Permits), Chapter 2 (Food Handling), of Title 5 (Sanitation and Health), codified from 4120 through 4134, amended in its entirety by §1, Ord. 1223, eff. July 31, 1974)