Los Altos Hills Municipal Code Ch. 2 Food Establishments

For the purposes of this chapter, unless otherwise apparent from the context, certain words and phrases used in this chapter are defined as follows:

Food

means and include all articles used for food, drink, confectioneries, or condiments, whether simple or compound, and all substances and ingredients used in the preparation thereof.

Food establishment

means and include any public or private market, shop, store, delicatessen, candy factory, storehouse, warehouse, cold storage plant, or other plant or place, not a public eating or drinking establishment, in or about which any food, foodstuff, or provisions are kept, held, sold, prepared, compounded, or offered for sale for human consumption. Such establishments shall specifically include, but shall not be restricted to: grocery stores and warehouses; candy and confectioners' plants or stores; bakeries; bottling works; food and condiment packers; fruit and vegetable stands; markets or other premises where meat or meat food products, sausage, fish, dressed poultry, rabbit, or game are kept, stored, handled, manufactured, or offered for sale; ice stations; and all food processing or cannery plants of any type.

Health Officer

means the County Health Officer or his assistants or authorized deputies acting as Health Officers of the Town.

Restaurant

means any coffee shop, cafeteria, short-order cafe, luncheonette, tavern, bar, sandwich stand, soda fountain, public school lunch room or cafeteria, labor or construction camp kitchen or dining room, public boardinghouse, club, and any other eating or drinking establishment which sells or offers for sale food to the public, as well as kitchens, box lunch establishments, catering services, and barbecue pits in which food or drink is prepared on the premises for sale or distribution elsewhere. "Restaurant" shall also include all cafeterias and restaurants serving commercial establishments as part of the organization and serving the public, whether as employees or visitors.

Utensils

mean and include kitchenware, tableware, glassware, cutlery, containers, machinery, implements, and receptacles used in the processing, storage, distribution, or serving of food or drink.

(Art. 1, Ord. 7)

(a) Required. It is unlawful for any person to operate or conduct a restaurant or food establishment or to sell, offer for sale, distribute, or have in possession for sale or distribution any food or drink intended for human consumption in the Town unless such person possesses a permit to do so from the Health Officer and pays the permit fee required.

(b) Exceptions. No permit shall be required of any food processing, cannery, or other food establishment licensed by the Department of Health of the State, by the Bureau of Meat Inspection of the Department of Agriculture of the State, or by the Meat Inspection Division of the United States Department of Agriculture.

(§ 1, Art. 2, Ord. 7)

Applications for the permits required by the provisions of this chapter shall be made in writing to the Health Officer. The Health Officer shall, upon receipt of such an application, make, or cause to be made, an examination of the premises for which such permit is requested. If, upon examination, the Health Officer shall find such premises and the equipment therein to be in accordance with the laws of the State, the requirements of this chapter, and the rules and regulations of the Health Officer, and not otherwise, the Health Officer shall issue a revocable permit for the conduct of such business.

(§ 2, Art. 2, Ord. 7)

The permits required by the provisions of this chapter shall be issued annually for the calendar year. The renewal of such permits shall be in the same manner as for the original permits.

(§ 2, Art. 2, Ord. 7)

The Health Officer is hereby empowered to deny or withhold a permit for which an application has been made pursuant to the provisions of this chapter if, in his or her judgment, the building, premises, equipment, apparatus, or reasonable facilities for establishing, maintaining, conducting, or operating the business or institution for which the permit is requested are insufficient, unfit, or incapable of being used, maintained, or established to comply with the provisions of this chapter or any other law of the Town or with the rules and regulations of the Health Officer or the laws of the State.

(§ 4, Art. 2, Ord. 7)

The Health Officer may suspend or revoke any permit authorized by the provisions of this chapter whenever he or she finds that the holder of such permit fails or refuses to comply with the laws of the State, the provisions of this chapter, or any rules and regulations of the Health Officer.

(§ 5, Art. 2, Ord. 7)

If the permit required by the provisions of this chapter shall be denied, suspended, or revoked by the Health Officer, it is unlawful during the period of such denial, revocation, or suspension for any person to sell or traffic in any food or drink products in the Town at such establishment.

(§ 4, Art. 2 Ord. 7)

Permits for any restaurant or food establishment within the Town shall not be transferable. Every person who shall sell, exchange, give away, abandon, or discontinue any such restaurant or food estab1ishment within the Town and every person who shall purchase or otherwise acquire any such restaurant or food establishment within the Town shall immediately notify the Health Officer as to the fact thereof.

(§§ 2 and 6, Art. 2, Ord. 7)

The Health Officer is hereby authorized to make such additional rules and regulations as may be necessary to secure the proper sanitation of all restaurants and food establishments and for the proper and orderly administration of the provisions of this chapter.

(§ 7, Art. 2, Ord. 7)

The presence of any food in or about the place of business of any person dealing in food, or in or about any vehicle used by any such person for the delivery of food, shall be prima facie evidence of intent on the part of such person to sell food and of the fact that he or she is holding or offering food for sale.

(§ 8, Art. 2 Ord. 7)

The Health Officer is hereby authorized and directed to seize and destroy or denaturize any tainted, diseased, decayed, partially decayed, or unwholesome meat, fish, shellfish, fowl, fruit, vegetable, or other unwholesome food found within the Town.

(§ 9, Art. 2, Ord. 7)

It is unlawful for any person, or agent or employee of any person, to sell, offer for sale, distribute, or have in possession for sale or distribution in the Town the flesh of any cattle, horse, sheep, lamb, swine, or goat unless the same bears on each primal part thereof the "Inspected and Passed" stamp of an establishment operating under Federal, State, or approved municipal inspection.

(§ 10, Art. 2, Ord. 7)

It is unlawful for any person, or agent or employee of any person, to sell, offer for sale, distribute, or have in possession for sale or distribution in the Town any sausage or other meat food product unless the same has been manufactured or prepared in accordance with the laws of the State.

(§ 11, Art. 2, Ord. 7)

The provisions of this chapter are for the protection of the public health, safety, and welfare and shall be liberally construed to obtain the beneficial purposes thereof.

(§ 12, Art. 2 Ord. 7)

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Sections 6-2.06—6-2.15 were renumbered to be 6-2.05—6-2.14 during the 2008 republication.