AB 544

Under current law, the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is responsible for the administration and enforcement of this state’s food safety laws, including those relating to licensing and inspections of restaurants and other retail food establishments. DATCP is permitted to contract with local health departments to aide in investigating and enforcing the state’s food safety laws. An authorized DATCP inspector may at any time during reasonable hours enter and inspect licensed retail food establishments, and may issue a holding order prohibiting the sale or movement of food if the inspector has reasonable cause to believe the food is adulterated or misbranded and dangerous to health or misleading as to injury or damage that could occur to a consumer. Upon finding a violation of the food safety laws, DATCP may also issue a special order directing compliance with food safety law, and may also by summary order suspend a license or permit issued if it finds there has been a substantial failure to comply with the food safety laws and that the violation constitutes a serious danger to public health.

This bill requires DATCP to establish within its current food safety regulatory activities a statewide food safety grading system for retail food establishments. The food safety grading system shall be based on a 100-point scale and shall categorize and assign negative point values that correspond to food safety violations that may occur at retail food establishments and that are based on the risk each food safety violation poses to public health. DATCP or a local health department designated as an agent of the department must at least once annually conduct unannounced inspections of each licensed retail food establishment, identify any food safety violations, and, using the point system developed by DATCP, determine for the retail food establishment a food safety score of A, B, C, or Grade Pending. If a retail food establishment receives a grade of Grade Pending, it must comply with DATCP’s or the local health department’s instructions for immediate corrective action, and the retail food establishment shall be subject to reinspection according to a timeline chosen by DATCP or the local health department. A retail food establishment may within 30 days of receiving a grade request a reinspection. A retail food establishment must comply with certain requirements regarding the posting of the grade it receives as a result of the inspection conducted under the system, including the requirement to display the grade it receives on all its public entrances. Failure to comply with the posting requirements may result in the retail food establishment being subject to a warning for the first violation, a forfeiture of $500 for a second violation committed within 12 months of a previous violation, and a $1,000 forfeiture for a third or subsequent violation committed within 12 months of any two previous violations. The bill requires DATCP to create and maintain an online database that is open to the public and that details the results of inspections conducted and grades determined for retail food establishments. The bill also requires DATCP to promulgate rules to enforce the food safety grading system.