Food facilities: food safety: employee knowledge.

Existing law, the California Retail Food Code, establishes uniform health and sanitation standards for, and provides for regulation by the State Department of Public Health of, retail food facilities, and requires local health agencies to enforce these provisions. Existing law makes a person who violates a provision of the code guilty of a misdemeanor. Existing law requires a food handler to obtain a food handler card from a specified training provider after completing a food handler training course and examination that covers specified topics, including foodborne illness and food contamination. Existing law exempts from those requirements food handlers who are employed by certain facilities, including public and private school cafeterias. This bill would provide that the food handler card requirements described above apply to food handlers who are employed by a food facility or an organized camp, as defined, that is subject to the California Retail Food Code. The bill would also require, by January 1, 2021, that the food handler training course described above include instruction relating to major food allergens and symptoms of allergic reactions, as specified. By expanding the scope of existing crimes and by imposing new duties on local health officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.