Chapter 7. Frozen Foods of California Health And Safety Code >> Division 104. >> Part 6. >> Chapter 7.

When used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
  (a) "Food" means any article used by man for food, drink, confectionery or condiment, or which enters into the composition thereof, whether simple, blended, mixed or compounded.
  (b) "Locker" means the individual sections or compartments of a capacity of not to exceed 25 cubic feet in the locker room of a frozen food locker plant.
  (c) "Frozen food locker plant" means an establishment in which space in the individual lockers is rented, leased, or loaned to individuals, firms, or corporations, for the storage of food for their own use and which is artificially cooled for the purpose of preserving the food. The term includes service locker plant, storage locker plant, and branch locker plant.
  (d) "Service locker plant" means a frozen food locker plant in which patrons' foods are prepared or packaged by the operator of the plant before the foods are placed in the lockers for storage.
  (e) "Storage locker plant" means a frozen food locker plant, the operator of which does not prepare or package the foods of patrons.
  (f) "Branch locker plant" means a frozen food locker plant in any location or establishment artificially cooled in which space in individual lockers is rented, leased, or loaned to individuals, firms, or corporations for the storage of food for their own use after preparation for storage in a central or parent plant.
  (g) "Frozen" means food frozen in a room or compartment in which the temperature is plus 5 degrees Fahrenheit or lower.
  (h) "Temperature" means the average air temperature in refrigerated rooms.
  (i) "Department" means the State Department of Health Services.
  (j) "Operator" means any person, firm or corporation operating or maintaining a frozen food locker plant.
  (k) "Processor" means an establishment in which, for compensation directly or indirectly, meat or meat products are cut, wrapped, or frozen to be delivered for frozen storage by the ultimate consumer.

No person hereafter shall engage within this State in the business of operating any frozen food locker plant without having applied for and obtained from the director of the department a license for each such place of business. Applications for the license shall be made in writing to the director of the department, on the forms and with the pertinent information as he or she may deem necessary. These licenses shall be granted promptly as a matter of right unless conditions exist that are grounds for denial of a license, as hereinafter set forth.

The annual license fee for a frozen food locker plant shall be twenty-five dollars ($25). Such fees shall be paid into the General Fund.

Upon receipt of the application for a license accompanied by the required fee, the department shall promptly inspect the plant to be licensed and shall issue a license; provided, the plant, its equipment, facilities and its surrounding premises, and its operations comply with this chapter and regulations pertaining to this chapter. The department shall inspect all frozen food locker plants licensed under this chapter, whenever the department considers the inspection necessary. The department and its representatives shall have access to the plants at all reasonable times for the purpose of making inspections.

The license issued hereunder shall be in a form as the department shall prescribe and shall be under the seal of the department and shall set forth the name of the licensee, the location for which the license is issued, the period of the license and other information as the department may determine. Licenses shall be for a term of one calendar year and shall be renewed annually. The license is nontransferable. The original license or a certified copy thereof shall be conspicuously displayed by the licensee in the locker plant for which the license is issued.

The floors, walls and ceilings of frozen food locker plants shall be of a construction and finish that they can be conveniently maintained in a clean and sanitary condition. The lockers in any plant shall be so constructed as to protect the contents from contamination, deterioration or injury. Lockers with perforated bottoms shall be provided with a suitable unperforated liner or tray.

Any frozen food locker plant using a toxic gas refrigerant shall have at least one gas mask of a type approved by the department and shall keep the same where it will be readily accessible.

All rooms of a frozen food locker plant shall at all times be maintained in a clean and sanitary condition. All equipment and utensils shall be cleaned when put into use and shall be thoroughly cleaned after each day's use and shall be so stored or protected as not to become contaminated. Lockers shall be thoroughly cleaned before they are leased or put into the possession of any patron. The premises and surroundings of the plants shall be maintained in a clean and sanitary condition. The food stored shall be protected from filth, flies, dust, dirt, insects, vermin and any other contamination and from any unclean or filthy practice in the handling thereof or caring therefor. No food shall be stored in a condition or in a manner as to cause injury to or deterioration of articles of food in adjacent lockers.

Frozen food locker plants shall have an ample water supply readily available and the water that comes in contact with any food product or the equipment shall be uncontaminated. Such plants shall be provided with adequate toilet facilities so located as to be readily accessible to employees and equipped with adequate washing fixtures or have such fixtures or facilities convenient thereto and shall be supplied with running water, single soap and single towel service. The doors of all toilet rooms shall be full length and self-closing and no toilet room shall open directly into any room in which foods are prepared, processed, chilled, frozen or stored. Toilet facilities and rooms shall be kept in a clean and sanitary condition.

The director shall publish and declare reasonable regulations as are consistent with the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter providing for adequate cleanliness and sanitation to protect public health.

The refrigeration system for a frozen food locker plant shall be equipped with reliable controls for the maintenance of uniform temperatures as required in the various refrigerated rooms and shall be of adequate capacity to provide under extreme conditions of outside temperature and activity of the plant, the following temperatures in the several rooms, respectively:
  (a) In pre-cool, chill, or aging rooms, temperatures shall be commensurate with good commercial practice.
  (b) In locker rooms, temperature shall not exceed plus five (5) degrees Fahrenheit, with customary commercial variations. The foregoing temperatures shall not be construed as prohibiting variations therefrom as may occur during short periods of time incidental to operating conditions beyond the control of the operator.

Any processor, prior to delivery to the consumer, shall quick-freeze all meat or meat products in a blast-type freezing room at zero degrees Fahrenheit with one side of the package exposed to circulated air, or in a still-air-type freezing room at a minimum of minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit with one surface side of each package in direct contact with coils of a freezing plate. This section shall not apply to the sale of retail cuts of meat sold over the counter.

Thermometers in good order shall be provided in all rooms held under low temperature at locations therein that will reflect true storage temperatures of foods in the rooms.

No frozen food locker plant shall be licensed under this chapter unless the following facilities are provided: Sufficient chill or aging room space, freezing facilities, locker room, and facilities for cutting, preparing, wrapping and packaging meats and meat products, except that storage locker plants and branch locker plants need install only locker room facilities as specified in Section 112550.

A branch plant may be operated only in conjunction with a parent locker plant that shall have processing facilities sufficiently large for the locker plant and all branch plants.

Storage of fish and game by patrons shall comply with federal and state fish and game laws. All pertinent abstracts of state and federal fish and game regulations shall be furnished by the department and shall be conspicuously displayed in the locker plant.

Every operator of a frozen food locker plant, shall keep a record showing names and addresses of renters of lockers and the records shall be available for examination by the Director of Food and Agriculture or his or her representatives, or the department or its representatives, during business hours of the plants.

Only food for human consumption, or clean, sanitary byproducts therefrom to be used for food, shall be stored in the frozen food locker plant. Each package of food wrapped and frozen for storage shall be labeled designating the product and identifying the processor.

The person owning or operating a frozen food locker plant shall have a lien upon all property therein for all charges due from the owner of the property. The lien may be secured and enforced in the same manner as warehousemen's liens are secured and enforced.

Operators of frozen food locker plants operating solely as such shall not be construed to be warehousemen or public utilities, nor shall receipts or other instruments issued by those persons in the ordinary conduct of their locker business be construed to be warehouse receipts or subject to the laws applicable thereto.

Cold storage or refrigerating warehouses subject to Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 112350) shall be exempt from the licensing provisions of this chapter.

The licensing provisions of this chapter shall not apply to retail premises in which individual frozen food lockers are not rented, leased, loaned, or otherwise furnished to individuals, firms or corporations, or processors.

The department, after notice and hearing, may revoke the license issued for any frozen food locker plant for failure to comply with the provisions of this chapter. The proceedings under this section shall be conducted in accordance with Chapter 5 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, and the department shall have all the powers granted therein.

In the event the director suspends or revokes any license, the licensee may obtain judicial review of the order by filing a petition for a writ of mandate in accordance with the Code of Civil Procedure in the superior court of the county in which the licensed premises are located within thirty (30) days from the date notice in writing of the director's order revoking or suspending the license has been served upon said licensee.

The liability of the owner or operator of lockers for loss of goods in lockers or in the owner's or operator's care shall be limited to negligence of the owner or operator or his or her employee.

Upon the signed petition of at least 25 owners or operators of frozen food locker plants licensed under this chapter, the director shall within 10 days after receipt of said petition, cause to be held at places and at times as he or she may provide, a public hearing for the purpose of gathering facts and data for the revision, correction or amendment of any rule or regulation issued pertaining to this chapter.

This chapter shall be known as the "Frozen Food Locker Plant Act of 1951."

Any person who violates any of the provisions of this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty dollars ($50) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment in the county jail for a term not exceeding six months, or by both the fine and imprisonment.