Walnut Creek Municipal Code Art. 1 General Provisions

For the purposes of this chapter, certain words and phrases used herein are defined as follows:

a.

Employee

shall mean any person who, with or without pay, works or handles food in a food handling establishment or who offers food for sale.

b.

Food

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

c.

Food handling establishment

shall mean restaurants and food selling and processing establishments; provided, however, the provisions of this chapter shall not apply to meat, milk and poultry processing establishments, frozen food lockers, canneries and slaughter houses inspected by Federal or State agencies, nor to such other plants and establishments for the packing, treatment and processing of agricultural products and crops of all kinds, including but not limited to plants or establishments for the packing, treating, canning, freezing, dehydrating and other processing and packaging of agricultural products and crops and the manufacturing or other processing of by-products therefrom, where such plants or establishments, or the products thereof, are subject to inspection by Federal or State agencies and which do not sell or deliver directly to the ultimate consumer to ensure that such products are in a sanitary condition and suitable for human consumption.

d.

Food selling and processing establishment

shall mean any room, building, vehicle, facility, structure or place, or portion thereof, whether stationary, moveable, permanent or temporary, which is maintained, used or operated for the purpose of commercially selling, storing, packaging, transporting, making, cooking, mixing, processing, bottling, canning, packing, slaughtering or otherwise preparing or handling food, or vendors servicing vending machines handling unwrapped, unbottled or unpackaged or readily perishable food. This definition shall not include restaurants, tank trucks, fresh produce trucks, farm trucks or vehicles delivering only nonperishable food products in sealed, wrapped or bottled containers, or vending machines dispensing only bottled beverages or wrapped candy.

e.

Health Officer,

unless otherwise modified, shall mean the Health Officer of the City, appointed by the Council, his medical deputies, his sanitarians or his duly authorized representatives.

f.

Itinerant food handling establishment

shall mean one which operates for a temporary period in connection with a fair, carnival, circus, public exhibition or other similar gathering.

g.

Restaurant

shall mean any restaurant, coffee shop, cafeteria, short-order cafe, luncheonette, tavern, sandwich stand, soda fountain, vehicle, and any other eating or drinking establishment which sells or offers food or drink for sale to the public, as well as kitchens in which food or drink is pre-pared on the premises for sale or distribution elsewhere.

h.

Utensils

shall mean and include kitchenware, tableware, glassware, cutlery, containers, machinery, implements, receptacles, supplies or other equipment used for the storage, preparation, distribution or serving of food or drink.

(4100, as amended by § 1, Ord. 824, eff. February 18, 1966)

All food handling establishments shall comply with all applicable statutes, ordinances and rules and regulations of Federal, State and local agencies.

(4101)

No permit shall be issued by any agency of the City to any person proposing the construction, reconstruction, alteration or use of any structure for use as a food handling establishment until such plans as relate to this chapter have been approved by the Health Officer.

(4102, as amended by § 2, Ord. 824, eff. February 18, 1966)

Where food service openings to the outside are used in restaurants, such openings shall have an area not exceeding 270 square inches with a maximum width of eighteen (18") inches and a maximum height of fifteen (15") inches. Triangular wide base openings with a height not exceeding twenty-four (24") inches shall be permitted. Openings shall be separated by a minimum of three (3') feet. Such openings shall be closeable with a wire screen not coarser than sixteen (16) mesh when not in use. Each opening shall be further protected by overhead fans, or internal positive pressure which would produce an outward air flow of at least seventy-five (75) linear feet per minute as measured by a standard velometer, or shall have a system of duct work such that the discharge of air produces such outward flow of air through the opening.

(4103)

All readily perishable foods shall be maintained at either 45 F. or lower, or at 140 F or higher, when in storage, on display, or in transit. Accurate Fahrenheit thermometers, suitable for measuring temperatures of food, shall be conspicuously affixed to food storage equipment where possible, or shall be available at every establishment. Waste water from refrigeration equipment in fixed establishments shall be disposed of into an approved sanitary sewage disposal system through an indirect connection. Except for properly handled game, only food intended to be sold or served to the public shall be kept in refrigerated storage cabinets. All frozen foods shall be kept at a temperature which will keep such food in a frozen state. No food which has been thawed shall be refrozen.

Readily perishable foods shall include, but not be limited to, the following items:

a. Custard and creme-filled pastries, both real and synthetic, prepared salads with dressing, sandwiches using mayonnaise or salad dressing in the filling, and precooked meat, poultry and fish products not hermetically sealed;

b. Fresh meats, fresh shell fish, fresh poultry and fresh fish;

c. All dairy products from sources not under inspection by other agencies; and

d. Canned hams and canned picnics containing labels indicating the product must be kept under refrigeration.

(4104, as amended by § 3, Ord. 824, eff. February 18, 1966)

It shall be unlawful for any person to keep live chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys or other live fowl or animals where foodstuffs are prepared for sale or sold, or in any cellar or basement underneath any grocery store, market or place where foodstuffs are kept for sale.

(4105)

If, at any time, a person working in any food handling establishment is found by the Health Officer to be handling food in a manner dangerous to the public health, the Health Officer shall have the authority to require such person and/or his employer to attend, free of charge, a course of instruction which shall be provided by the Health Officer, or to discontinue handling food, or both.

(4106, as amended by § 4, Ord. 824, eff. February 18, 1966)

It shall be the duty of any Health Officer or Meat Inspector, and they are hereby empowered, to enter and inspect any premises regulated by this chapter during regular working hours.

(4107)