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PA Bulletin, Doc. No. 19-1141

NOTICES

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Licensure of Retail Food Facilities

[49 Pa.B. 3903]
[Saturday, July 27, 2019]

 The Department of Agriculture (Department) gives notice of the following:

 The Department administers and enforces the Retail Food Facility Safety Act (3 Pa.C.S. §§ 5701—5714) and—along with local health authorities—licenses retail food facilities (typically, restaurants and food stores) throughout this Commonwealth. The Department also administers and enforces the Food Safety Act (3 Pa.C.S. §§ 5721—5737) and registers all ''food establishments'' (typically, food processing plants and warehouses) throughout this Commonwealth.

 In areas where the Department, rather than a local health authority, is the ''licensor'' of retail food facilities, the Department will license and inspect an establishment that would otherwise be registered with the Department as a ''food establishment'' under authority of the Food Safety Act as a ''retail food facility'' under authority of the Retail Food Facility Safety Act if the establishment provides the Department written confirmation that it:

 (1) seeks to be licensed and inspected as a ''retail food facility'' under authority of the Retail Food Facility Safety Act;

 (2) stores, prepares, packages, vends, offers for sale or otherwise provides food for human consumption;

 (3) relinquishes food to a consumer indirectly through a delivery service, such as a home delivery of grocery orders or a delivery service provided by common carriers; and

 (4) otherwise follows the application and licensure process prescribed under the Retail Food Facility Safety Act and its attendant regulations (7 Pa. Code Chapter 46 (relating to food code).

 The written confirmation previously described shall be delivered to the Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory Services, Attn: Chief, Food Safety Policy and Programs Division, 2301 North Cameron Street, Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408.

 Where the Department issues a retail food facility license to an establishment that had previously been registered with the Department as a food establishment, the Department will terminate the referenced registration as of the licensure of that establishment as a retail food facility.

 In areas where a local health authority, rather than the Department, is the licensor of retail food facilities, retail food facility licensure matters will be addressed and resolved by the licensing local health authority. Where a local health authority agrees to issue a retail food facility license to an establishment that had previously been registered with the Department as a food establishment, the Department will terminate the referenced registration as of the licensure of that establishment as a ''retail food facility'' by the local health authority.

 The previously described process addresses evolving business models that impact the way consumers acquire food and businesses provide that food. The Department is aware of increasing numbers of businesses that provide food directly to consumers solely through a delivery service. Such a business might straddle the line between being a food establishment (such as a processing plant or food warehouse) and being a retail food facility (such as a restaurant that delivers take-out food to consumers or a food store that home-delivers groceries).

 The standards of the most current edition of the Model Food Code published by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration (Model Food Code), are (with inapplicable exceptions) adopted as the Department's regulatory food safety standards (7 Pa. Code § 46.4 (relating to adoption of Model Food Code)). The Conference for Food Protection is the advisory body that administers and refines the Model Food Code. The Department is aware the Conference for Food Protection is considering addressing the evolving business models previously described in future updates to the Model Food Code. For this reason, the Department may revisit the substance of this notice based upon the evolving language of the Model Food Code.

 Questions on the subject matter of this notice should be directed to Sheri Morris, Chief, Food Safety Policy and Programs Division, (717) 787-4315.

RUSSELL C. REDDING, 
Secretary

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 19-1141. Filed for public inspection July 16, 2019, 9:00 a.m.]


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