Maricopa
County Environmental Services Department currently enforces the 2013 Food and
Drug Administration’s Food Code (Code). The Code contains specific
regulations for food establishments that serve highly susceptible
populations.
A highly susceptible population is defined as persons
who are more likely than other people in the general population to experience
foodborne disease because they are:
(1)
Immunocompromised; preschool age children, or older adults; and
(2)
Obtaining food at a facility that provides services such as custodial care,
health care, or assisted living, such as a child or adult day care center,
kidney dialysis center, hospital or nursing home, or nutritional or
socialization services such as a senior center.
In
Maricopa County, the following permit types are considered food establishments
that serve highly susceptible populations:
·
Daycares
·
Hospitals
·
Nursing
Homes
·
Assisted
Living Homes
*Note:
This does not include Independent Living permits that may be located on the
campus of a nursing home or assisted living facility.
Per
the Code, food establishments that serve highly susceptible populations:
·
May
not use time as a control for raw eggs
·
Must
only serve pasteurized juice
·
Must
use pasteurized eggs in place of raw shell eggs for items such as undercooked
eggs, Caesar salad, meringue, eggnog, Hollandaise sauce, ice cream, etc.
Raw eggs can be used for baking, such as breads and cakes
·
Cannot
serve raw animal foods such as raw fish, raw-marinated fish, raw molluscan
seafood (oysters, clams, mussels), and steak tartare
·
Cannot
serve a partially cooked animal food such as lightly cooked fish, rare meat,
soft-cooked eggs that are made from raw eggs, and meringue
·
Cannot
serve raw seed sprouts.
·
Cannot
handle ready to eat foods with their bare hands
·
Cannot
reserve food that has been provided to patients or clients who are under
medical isolation or quarantine, even if it has not been opened (such as a
package of crackers, an individual portion of peanut butter, etc.).
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