Los Altos Municipal Code Ch. 6.24 Restaurants and 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:

A.

"Food" shall include all articles used for food, drink, confectionery, or condiment, whether simple or compound, and all substances and ingredients used in the preparation thereof.

B.

"Restaurant" shall mean any coffee shop, cafeteria, short-order cafe, luncheonette, tavern, bar, sandwich stand, soda fountain, public school lunch room or house, club, or 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 or restaurants serving commercial establishments as part of the organization and serving the public, whether as employees or visitors.

C.

"Food establishment" shall mean and include any public or private market, shop, store, delicatessen, candy factory, storehouse, warehouse, cold storage plant or other plant, or other 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, 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.

D.

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

(Prior code § 5-3.01)

It shall be 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 city unless possessing a permit to do so from the health officer and paying the permit fee required. No permit shall be required of any food processing, cannery or other food establishment licensed by the state Department of Health, by the Bureau of Meat Inspection of the State Department of Agriculture, or by the Meat Inspection Division of the United States Department of Agriculture.

(Prior code § 5-3.02)

Application for the permit required by Section 6.24.020 of this chapter shall be made in writing to the health officer. Upon receipt of an application, the health officer shall 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, he shall issue a revocable permit for the conduct of such business. The permit shall be issued annually for the calendar year and shall not be transferable. Renewal of permits shall be applied for and acted upon in the same manner.

(Prior code § 5-3.03)

The permit fee for conducting a restaurant or food establishment shall be ten dollars ($10.00) per year, payable upon the first day of January of each year.

(Prior code § 5-3.04)

The health officer is hereby empowered to deny or withhold a permit for which an application has been made if, in his judgment, the building, premises, equipment, apparatus or reasonable facilities for the establishing, maintaining, conducting or operating the business or institution for which a permit is requested is insufficient, unfit or incapable of being used, maintained, or established to comply with this code or the rules and regulations of the health officer or laws of the state. If such permit is denied, suspended or revoked by the health officer, it shall be unlawful during the period of the denial, revocation or suspension for any person to sell or traffic any food or drink products in the city at such establishment.

(Prior code § 5-3.05)

The health officer may suspend or revoke any permit authorized by this chapter whenever he finds that the holder of such a permit fails or refuses to comply with the laws of the state, this chapter or any rules and regulations of the health officer.

(Prior code § 5-3.06)

Permits for any restaurant or food establishment within the city shall not be transferable. Every person who shall sell, exchange, give away, abandon, or discontinue any restaurant or food establishment within the city, and every person who shall purchase or otherwise acquire any such restaurant or food establishment within the city shall immediately notify the health officer, his assistant or his duly authorized representative as to the fact thereof.

(Prior code § 5-3.07)

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 or food establishments and for the proper and orderly administration of this chapter.

(Prior code § 5-3.08)

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 such person for the delivery of the same shall be prima facie evidence of intent on the part of such person to sell the same and of the fact that he is holding or offering the same for sale.

(Prior code § 5-3.09)

The health officer, his assistant and his duly authorized representative, are hereby authorized and directed to seize and destroy or denaturise any tainted, diseased, decayed or partially decayed, or unwholesome meat, fish, shellfish, fowl, fruits, vegetables, or other unwholesome food found within the city.

(Prior code § 5-3.10)

It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, offer for sale, distribute or have in possession for sale or distribution in the city 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 inspection, state inspection or approved municipal inspection.

(Prior code § 5-3.11)

It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, offer for sale, distribute or have in possession for sale or distribution in the city any sausage or other meat food product unless the same has been manufactured or prepared in accordance with the laws of the state.

(Prior code § 5-3.12)

It shall be unlawful for any live animal, other than human beings, to be allowed in any establishment in the city wherein food, or the constituents thereof, is prepared, served or sold.

(Prior code § 5-3.13)

Health officer, as used in this chapter, means such officer of the city or of the County acting pursuant to authority from the city.

(Prior code § 5-3.14)