FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. Q: Can I prepare, package or sell food products out of my home
for sale to others?
A: No. In California all food that is intended to be sold to the public, must be prepared in
an approved commercial food preparation facility. Such faclities cannot be connected directly to a private residence.
2. Q: Who needs a Permit to Operate a food facility?
A: Any person, business, or organization that prepares,
sells, or gives away food to the public needs a permit issued by the local Health Department. This includes restaurants, markets,
liquor stores, coffee shops, bars, mini markets, discount variety stores that sell only packaged foods, schools, bed &
breakfasts, catering trucks, ice cream trucks, hot food trucks, food carts, caterers, farmers markets, etc. To obtain such
a permit the owner/operator of the food facility must submit an application to the Environmental Health Division and must
show that the facility meets minimum requirements of the California Retail Food Code. There are some exceptions (see #3 and
4 below).
3. Q: Does my church group need a permit to sell food at our annual fundraiser?
A: Possibly
not. Non-profit associations may sell or give away food to members or quests, but not the general public,for up to 3 days
in a 90 day period (or once per month) without a permit. However, the persons preparing and selling the food still need to
follow safe handling procedures.
4. Q: Do I need a permit to cater?
A: In most cases, yes. If you regularly
prepare and serve food at one meeting hall; prepare or store food at one location for serving later at another location; or
provide multi-use utensils that you maintain, then you need a Permit to Operate. If you only act as a cook-for-hire then you
would not. A cook-for-hire simply shows up and prepares food at a facility provided by the person who has hired them. A cook-for-hire
may not prepare or store food ahead of time, or wash and sanitize muti-use consumer utensils.
5. Q: Who must take
and pass an approved food safety test?
A: All food facilities, including mobile food facilities (MFF), must have
at least one person who works there, who has passed an approved food safety test. That person may only qualify as meeting
this requirement for one food facility. The person who has passed the test need not always be present when the food facility
is open but should have trained other people working in the food facility about safe food handling. Exceptions: Markets and
MFFs that only sell prepackaged foods and/or prepare only non-potentially hazardous foods, and temporary food faclities are
exempt from the food safety test requirement, but persons working there must still be able to demonstrate adequate knowledge
abouth food safety.
6. Q: How long is a food safety certificate good for and how to obtain one?
A: As
of July 1, 2007, Food Safety Certificates are good for 5 years. Modoc County Environmental Health conducts Food Safety classes
every year with the test given at the end of the class. You may sign-up and pay for the class or test at the Modoc County
Environmental Health office during normal business hours. Class sizes are limited and do fill-up sometimes. In addition, some
private businesses may occasionally provide food safety classes or proctor exams either in this county or in a nearby county.
7. Q: What kind of thermometers do I need at my food facility?
A: You will probably need several types.
You need an accurate, visible refrigerator thermometer in each refrigerator and freezer. Check these at least once per day.
You need a visible oven thermometer in all hot holding ovens, hot display cases and heated cabinets. You will also need at
least one probe type thermometer for checking food temperatures. The most basic probe thermometer is a bi-metallic probe thermometer
with a range of 0-220°F. These thermometers are cheap and strudy but are not useful for checking cooking temperatures
of small or thin foods because approximately 1 ½ of the stem must be placed in the food for accurate readings.
For checking cooking temperatures you will needa digital probe thermometer that is sensitive at the tip. All thermometers
should be checked on a regular basis for accuracy and must be accurate to ±2°F.
8. Q: What are potentially
hazardous foods and why are they important?
A: Potentially hazardous foods are moist, protein food products that
can support rapid growth of botulism. Potentially hazardous foods include meat and meat products, poultry, fish,eggs and egg
products, cooked vegetables, cooked pasta, cooked rice, dairy products, moist soy products (tofu), raw seed sprouts, cut melons,
vegetables covered in oil, and some juices. Such foods are important because they can support the rapid growth of harmful
bacteria if the foods are left out in the danger zone (41°F - 135°F). Therefore, such foods must be kept refrigerated
(41°F or less) or kept hot (135°F or higher) in commercial equipment designed for such use.
9. Q: Why is
rapid cooling of potentially hazardous foods important and how is it done?
A: When hot or warm potentially hazardous
foods are cooled, they must pass through the danger zone while cooling. It should NOT be assumed that warm foods placed in
a refrigerator immediately get cold. The center portion of warm foods can take a long time to cool, if not done correctly,
allowing for the growth of large numbers of harmful bacteria. Most common mistakes in cooling foods include: a) cooling at
room temperature; b) cooling too much hot food at one time in a refrigerator; c) cooling hot foods in large portion size or
in large, deep containers (buckets, large pots, deep pans, etc.). Potentially hazardous foods must be cooled from 135°F
- 70°F in two hours and then from 70°F - 41°F in an additional 4 hours. For liquid or semi-soild foods this normally
done with ice baths and/or cooling in shallow, partially covered stainless steel containers in a storage type commercial refrigerator.
Do not stack food containers while cooling and leave enough space around container for good air circulation. Large, solid
foods can be cut-up into smaller pieces, spread out on a pan, and cooled in a storage type commercial refrigerator.
10. Q: How big of a hot water heater do I need and what temperature should it be?
A: Hot water ina food facility
must be at least 120°F at teh utensil sink faucet. Hot water at handwashing sinks must be at least 100°F. Follow directions
on the dishwasher sate plate for how hot the incoming water must be for your particular dishwasher. The needed capacity of
a hot water heater depends on the peak hot water needs for a particular food facility. The newer tankless water heaters must
be sized so that there is an adequate amount (measured GPM) of hot water at a 60°F temperature rise. Electric tankless
water heaters are typically suitable only for low water use facilities.
11. Q: When should food handlers wash their
hands?
A: Handwashing is the primary method of preventing the contamination of ready-to eat foods and utensils
with viruses. Hands that have become contaminated from handling raw meats can also cross-contaminate other foods. Therefore,
it is very important that food handlers wash their hands before beginning work or changing tasks, and after using the restroom,
smoking, eating, handling raw food products, general cleaning, handling trash, or any other times that their hands may have
become contaminated.
12. Q: What do I need to do to sell food or beverages from a cart?
A: Food carts
are typically smaller mobile food facilities that sell either packaged foods or do limited food preparation. Such units must
report daily to an approved commissary (usually a restaurant or market with adequate facilities). See the Mobile Food Facility
(MFF) requirements in the document section for details. Owners of new MFF's or new owners of older MFF's need to bring
their mobile untis into the local office of Environmental Health for inspection and permitting.
13. Q: What is
a commissary and where can I find one for my mobile food facility?
A: Because MFF's do not have all the facilities
that a permanent food facility does they must operate in conjuction with an approved commissary. A commissary is used for
thorough cleaning of the MFF, cleaning of larger utensils and equipment, storage of food and other supplies, obtaining fresh
potable water, dumping waste water, and doing any needed food preparation that cannot be done on the MFF. Modoc County Environmental
Health does not maintain a list of approved commissaries. Many restaurants and markets, that do food preparation, could qualify
as a commissary if they have extra refrigerated and non-refrigerated storage space and they are accessible to a MFF. Ideally
the commissary would have provisions for dumping waste water from the MFF, but if it does not you can dump the waste water
from your MFF at any RV waste water dump.
14. Q: When do I need to submit plans for a food facility and what do
I need to submit?
A: Whenever a new food facility is going to be constructed, an existing food facility is going
to be remodeled, or there is a significant change in the menu or method of operation, plans must be submitted to Environmental
Health for review and approval. At least one set of scaled palns must be submitted directly to Modoc County Environmental
Health. See Construction Requirements for a Permanent Food Facility for specifics as to what has to be done on the plans.
It is recommended that prior to submitting any plans, first contact the local Planning Department (for proper zoning and other
planning issues), and the land use section of Environmental Health if the propsed location is on a individual sewage system
and well.
15. Q: Where can I see a copy of the most recent inspection of a retail food facility?
A:
All food facilities must make their most recent health inspection available upon request. If the inspection has been lost
or is not currently available for some other reason you can request a copy of the inspections for Modoc County food facilities
at the Environmental Health office.
Revised June, 2007
