Part 7 of Division 104 of the California Health and Safety Code (HSC) (sections 113700 et seq.), also referred to as the California Retail Food Code (CRFC), provides Statewide health and sanitation standards for retail food facilities. These sections allow a county to establish some local requirements for retail food facilities and their employees. These sections also provide that a local enforcement agency shall have primary enforcement responsibility for the State regulations in its jurisdiction. The purposes of this Division are to clarify and explain the CRFC for local implementation where necessary, to adopt additional regulations for retail food facilities and their employees to protect the public health and safety in San Diego County, to codify and amend a long-standing County program to regulate caterers, and to appoint the Department of Environmental Health and Quality to enforce State and County regulations for retail food facilities and their employees.
Because they are not based on the CRFC, the food facility grading and food handler requirements in this Division (at sections 61.107, 61.108, 61.114 and 61.115) are directly applicable only in the unincorporated portions of San Diego County. However, parallel provisions have been enacted in all of the incorporated cities in the County. Because private event catering is not retail food service as defined in the CRFC, requirements applicable to caterers when preparing and serving food at private events (in Chapter 3 of this Division) are based on County general powers in the unincorporated area (California Constitution, article 11, section 7), and on parallel city ordinances and on State-law health officer powers in incorporated cities. The substantive content of those requirements is based on the CRFC.
Because the Director is the environmental health officer in all incorporated cities in the County (as authorized by State law and by agreement with each city), parallel city ordinance provisions for food facility grading, food handlers and private event caterers are also administered and enforced by the Director. All other provisions of this Division, including all provisions applicable to direct-sales caterers, implement the CRFC and apply County-wide pursuant to the CRFC. All requirements in this Division are administered and enforced by the Director.
This Division does not override any local land use requirement or limitation, or any local regulation on where mobile food facilities may operate.
(Added by Ord. No. 10036 (N.S.), effective 2-26-10; amended by Ord. No. 10218 (N.S.), effective 8-24-12; amended by Ord. No. 10452 (N.S.), effective 1-13-17; amended by Ord. No. 10709 (N.S.), effective 1-15-21; amended by Ord. No. 10766 (N.S.), effective 2-25-22)