Article 1. Food Processing Establishments of California Health And Safety Code >> Division 104. >> Part 6. >> Chapter 4. >> Article 1.

"Food," as used in this chapter, includes all articles used for food, drink, confectionery, or condiment, whether simple or compound, and all substances and ingredients used in the preparation thereof.

"Food processing establishment," as used in this chapter, shall mean any room, building, or place or portion thereof, maintained, used, or operated for the purpose of commercially storing, packaging, making, cooking, mixing, processing, bottling, canning, packing, slaughtering, or otherwise preparing or handling food except restaurants. "Food processing establishment" shall not include a cottage food operation that is registered or has a permit pursuant to Section 114365.

Every food processing establishment shall be properly lighted, drained, plumbed, and ventilated; and shall be conducted with strict regard to the influence of lighting, drainage, plumbing, and ventilation upon the health of persons therein employed, and upon the purity and wholesomeness of the food therein produced, prepared for sale, manufactured, packed, stored, kept, handled, sold, or distributed.

The floors, side walls, ceiling, furniture, receptacles, utensils, implements, and machinery of every food processing establishment shall at no time be kept in an unclean, unhealthful, or unsanitary condition. Any of the following is deemed to be "an unclean, unhealthful, or unsanitary condition":
  (a) If food in the process of manufacture, preparation, packing, storing, sale, or distribution is not securely protected from flies, dust, or dirt, and from all other foreign or injurious contamination.
  (b) If refuse, dirt, and waste products subject to decomposition and fermentation incident to the manufacture, preparation, packing, storing, selling, and distributing of food, are not removed daily.
  (c) If all trucks, trays, boxes, baskets, buckets, other receptacles, chutes, platforms, racks, tables, shelves, knives, saws, cleavers, and all other utensils, receptacles, and machinery used in moving, handling, cutting, chopping, mixing, canning, and all other processes employed in the preparation of food are not thoroughly cleaned daily.
  (d) If the clothing of employees is unclean or if they dress, undress, or leave or store their clothing in the place where the food is produced, prepared, manufactured, packed, sold or distributed.

No live animal or fowl shall be kept or allowed in any establishment where food is prepared, manufactured, kept, stored, offered for sale or sold unless the establishment is exclusively devoted to the slaughter, processing and/or sale of the animal or fowl. This section does not apply to dogs used by uniformed employees of private patrol operators and operators of a private patrol service who are licensed pursuant to Chapter 11.5 (commencing with Section 7580) of Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code, while those employees are acting within the course and scope of their employment as private patrolmen. The state department may adopt regulations as it determines are reasonably necessary under this section for the protection of the public health and safety.

The side walls and ceilings of every bakery, confectionery, hotel, or restaurant kitchen shall be well plastered or ceiled with metal or lumber, or shall be oil painted or kept well lime washed, or otherwise kept in a good sanitary condition.

All interior woodwork of every bakery, confectionery, hotel, or restaurant kitchen shall be kept well oiled or painted with oil paint, and shall be kept washed clean with soap and water, or otherwise kept in a good sanitary condition.

Every building, room, basement, or cellar occupied or used for the preparation, manufacture, packing, storage, sale, or distribution of food shall have an impermeable floor, made of cement, or of tile laid in cement, brick, wood, or other suitable, nonabsorbent material that can be flushed and washed clean with water.

Where practicable, the doors, windows, and other openings of every food producing or distributing establishment shall be fitted with stationary or self-closing screen doors and wire window screens, of not coarser than 14 mesh wire gauze.

Every building, room, basement, or cellar occupied or used for the production, preparation, manufacture, packing, canning, sale, or distribution of food shall have convenient toilet or toilet-rooms, separate and apart from the room or rooms where the process of production, preparation, manufacture, packing, canning, selling, or distributing is conducted.

The floors of toilet-rooms shall be made of cement, or of tile laid in cement, wood, brick, or other nonabsorbent material, and shall be washed and scoured daily.

The toilets shall be furnished with separate ventilating pipes or flues discharging either into soil pipes or on the outside of the building in which they are situated.

Lavatories and washrooms shall be adjacent to toilet-rooms and shall be supplied with soap, running water, and towels, and shall be maintained in a clean and sanitary condition.

Employees and others who handle the material from which food is prepared or the finished product shall before beginning work and immediately after visiting a toilet or lavatory, wash their hands and arms thoroughly in clean water.

No employee or other person shall sit or lie upon any table, bench, trough, shelf, or other equipment that is intended for use in connection with any food manufacturing process.

No employee or other person shall expectorate or discharge any substance from his or her nose or mouth on the floor or interior side wall of any building, room, basement, or cellar where the production, preparation, manufacture, packing, storing, or sale of any food is conducted.

No person shall, nor shall any person be allowed to, reside or sleep in any room of a bake-shop, public dining room, hotel or restaurant kitchen, confectionery, or other place where food is prepared, produced, manufactured, served, or sold.

No employer shall require or permit any person to work, in a food processing establishment or vehicle used for the production, preparation, manufacture, sale, or transportation of food if the person is infected with any contagious, infectious, or communicable disease that can be transmitted by the food involved.

(a) Prior to January 1, 2001, the department, its inspectors and agents, and all local health officers and inspectors may at all times enter any building, room, basement, cellar, or other place occupied or used, or suspected of being occupied or used, for the production, preparation, manufacture, storage, sale, or distribution of food, and inspect the premises and all utensils, implements, receptacles, fixtures, furniture, and machinery used.
  (b) Commencing January 1, 2001, only the department, its inspectors and agents, and the local health officers and inspectors of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Orange Counties and the City of Vernon may exercise the authority to enter and inspect granted in subdivision (a) except as provided in subdivision (c).
  (c) Commencing January 1, 2001, the local health officer or inspector of each city or county, or city and county may exercise the authority to enter and inspect granted in subdivision (a) for the sole purpose of inspecting a food processing establishment that only holds or warehouses processed food, provided that:
  (1) The warehouse does not manufacture or pack processed food.
  (2) The warehouse does not hold fresh seafood, frozen seafood held in bulk for further processing, or fresh or frozen raw shellfish.
  (3) The warehouse is not operated as an integral part of a food processing facility required to be registered pursuant to Section 110460.
  (4) The warehouse facilities are located entirely within the area under the jurisdiction of the local health department.
  (5) The warehouse does not salvage food as the primary business.
  (d) All inspections of food processing establishments conducted by local health departments shall be reported to the department within 60 days. The department shall consider this information when scheduling the department's inspection activities.

If upon inspection any building, room, basement, cellar, or other place, or any vehicle, employer, employee, or other person is found to be in violation of or violating any of the provisions of this article, or if the production, preparation, manufacture, packing, storing, sale, or distribution of food is being conducted in a manner detrimental to the health of the employees or to the character or quality of the food being produced, prepared, manufactured, packed, stored, sold, distributed, or conveyed, the person making the inspection shall at once make a written report of the violation to the district attorney of the county, who shall prosecute the violator. He or she shall make a like report to the department. The department, from time to time, may publish the reports in its monthly bulletin.

Every building, room, basement, cellar, or other place or thing kept, maintained, or operated in violation of this article, and all food produced, prepared, manufactured, packed, stored, kept, sold, distributed, or transported in violation of this article, is a public nuisance dangerous to health. Any such nuisance may be abated or enjoined in an action brought for that purpose by the local or state department or may be summarily abated in the manner provided by law for the summary abatement of public nuisances dangerous to health.

The sections contained in this article are to be known as the California Food Sanitation Act.