Colusa Municipal Code Ch. 9A Food and Food Establishments

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1. For state law as to authority of city to license and regulate restaurants, see H. & S. C., § 28693. As to sanitation of restaurants, etc., see H. & S.C., 28520 et seq.

For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:

Employee. Any person, except employees of individuals or concerns who are excluded in this section 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.

Food handling establishment. All individuals or firms operating within the incorporated limits of the city 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.

Health officer. The health officer of the county, or his authorized agent.

Operator. Every person, or owner or agent, conducting the business of a restaurant or other food handling establishment.

Person. Persons, firms, corporations or associations. The masculine gender includes the feminine and neuter, and the singular includes the plural, and the plural the singular.

Utensils. 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. 260, § 1.)

(a) Following ninety days from the effective date of this ordinance [2] 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.

(b) 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:

(1) 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.

(2) 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. 260, § 2.)

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2. Editor's note. This ordinance was adopted on October 14, 1968 and became effective thirty days after such date.

(a) 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.

(b) 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 city council, after the hearing herein provided for, has granted permission to resume operation.

(c) An operator whose permit has been suspended or revoked may appeal to the city council within five days after receipt of the notice suspending or revoking the permit. The appeal shall be made by filing with the city clerk a statement in writing setting forth the grounds of the appeal. The city clerk shall present the statement together with a copy of the notice of suspension or revocation, to the city council 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 city council, within ten days after the appeal has been presented, shall affirm, modify or overrule this revocation or suspension.

(d) 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:

(1) The building and equipment requirements made mandatory by this chapter.

(2) All other ordinances of the city in any manner pertaining thereto.

(3) 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.

(4) 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. 260, § 3.)

At least once every six months the health officer shall cause every restaurant and food handling establishment located within the city to be inspected. A system of grading for restaurants may be instituted at the discretion of the health officer.

(Ord. No. 260, § 4.)

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 sanitation have been corrected.

(Ord. No. 260, § 5.)

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. 260, § 6.)

Whenever the health officer shall, upon examination or inspection, ascertain 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 above mentioned article and prohibit its use within the establishment.

(Ord. No. 260, § 7.)

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. 260, § 8.)

It shall be the duty of the employees of a food handling establishment to notify the operator if he 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. 260, § 9.)

Should the health officer deem it advisable, he may require examination or laboratory tests for any communicable disease, of any person engaged or about to be engaged in the handling, preparation or storage of food or drink, or the sanitizing of utensils for any public food preparation and service activity.

(Ord. No. 260, § 10; Ord. No. 295, § 2.)