Chapter 5-10 FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS

(A) “Food” includes all articles used for food, drink, confectionery or condiment, whether simple or compound, and all substances and ingredients used in the preparation thereof.

(B) “Restaurant” means any coffee shop, cafeteria, short-order cafe, luncheonette, tavern, bar, sandwich stand, soda fountain, public school lunch room or cafeteria, labor and construction camp kitchen and dining room, public boarding house, club and any other kind of eating or drinking establishment which sells or offers for sale food to the public, as well as kitchens, box lunch establishments, catering services, barbecue pits in which food or drinks are prepared on the premises, for sale on the premises or distribution elsewhere. “Restaurant,” as used in this Chapter, shall also include all cafeterias or restaurants serving commercial establishments as part of the organization and serving the public, whether as employees or visitors.

(C) “Food establishment” shall mean and include any public or private market, shop, delicatessen, candy factory, tortilleria, or other place, not a public eating or drinking establishment in or about which any food, foodstuffs or provisions are kept, held, sold, prepared, or compounded, or offered for sale for human consumption. Such establishments shall specifically include but shall not be restricted to: grocery stores and warehouses; candy and confectioners’ plants and stores; bakeries; bottling works; food and condiment packing houses; fruit and vegetable stands; markets or other premises where meat or meat food products, sausage, fish, dressed poultry, rabbit or game are kept, stored, handled, manufactured or offered for sale; ice stations; all food or processing or cannery plants of any type.

(D) “Health Officer” means the Health Officer of San Benito County which is also the official Health Officer of the City of San Juan Bautista.

(E) “Health Department” means the Health Department of San Benito County, which is also the official Health Department of the City of San Juan Bautista.

Article 2. Permits – Requirements for
Various Establishments

5-10-200 Permit required.

It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to operate or conduct a restaurant or food establishment or to sell or offer for sale, distribute or have in possession for sale or distribution any food or drink intended for human consumption in the City of San Juan Bautista, State of California, unless he or it possesses a permit to do so from the Health Officer. No permit shall be required of any food processing plant, cannery, or other food establishment licensed by the California Department of Health, by the Bureau of Meat Inspection of the California State Department of Agriculture, or by Meat Inspection Division of the United States Department of Agriculture.

5-10-203 Application for permits for restaurants and food establishments existing on effective date of Chapter.

The owner, operator, or manager of any existing restaurant or food establishment shall, within thirty (30) days following the effective date of this Chapter (10/6/55), file with the Health Officer an application seeking authority to continue to operate such restaurant or food establishment. Such application shall be on a form provided by the Health Officer and shall require the name of the owner or owners, manager or managers thereof, the location and such other information that said Health Officer may require for the administration of this Chapter.

The application shall further require a signed statement that such application will observe the provisions of the chapter and will within a reasonable time, not to exceed one hundred twenty (120) days, make any and all changes in construction and operations which are required by this Chapter.

5-10-206 Applications for permits for new restaurants and food establishments.

Any person, firm or corporation intending to operate a restaurant or food establishment which is not in existence on the effective date of this Chapter (10/6/55) shall, before opening or operating such establishment, make application to the Health Officer upon a form as prescribed by SJBMC 5-10-203.

5-10-209 Duties of Health Officer on receipt of application for permit.

Following receipt of the application by the Health Officer, he shall make or cause to be made an inspection of the premises of the applicant, and if the provisions of this Chapter and all other applicable State and County laws have been complied with by the applicant, said Health Officer shall certify that fact to the applicant and issue to him a permit to operate.

5-10-212 Conspicuous display of permit.

Every permit required by this Chapter shall at all times be displayed in a conspicuous place on the premises of the applicant to whom it was issued.

5-10-215 Suspension and revocation of permit.

If it is determined by the Health Officer, following any investigation of a restaurant or food establishment that the operator, or owner, or manager thereof has not complied with the provisions of this Chapter or with the laws of the State of California, said Health Officer may in his discretion immediately suspend and seize the permit issued to operate said restaurant or food establishment. Any owner, operator or manager of a restaurant or food establishment whose permit has been suspended and seized shall have a reasonable time within which to correct the violations of this Chapter or of the laws of the State of California leading to such suspension and seizure, and if such corrections are not made within a reasonable time not to exceed one hundred twenty (120) days, said Health Officer shall revoke the permit.

5-10-218 Reinstatement of suspended permit.

Before a suspended permit shall be reinstated, the owner, operator or manager of any restaurant or food establishment for which the permit to operate has been suspended shall be required to correct the conditions which cause the Health Officer to suspend the permit. Upon such corrections, the permit to operate shall be returned to the permittee.

5-10-221 Procedure after revocation of permit.

In case a permit has been revoked, it shall not be reinstated, and the owner, operator, or manager of a restaurant or food establishment whose permit has been revoked shall forthwith cease to operate such restaurant or food establishment and shall only be entitled to commence operation after making a new application as provided for in SJBMC 5-10-206, and after having received a new permit to operate.

5-10-224 Requirements of issuance of new permits – New permit required on change of management or ownership.

Every person that sells, exchanges, gives away, abandons, or discontinues any restaurant or food establishment within the City of San Juan Bautista, any and every person who shall purchase or otherwise require any such restaurant or food establishment in said area shall immediately notify the Health Officer, his assistant, or duly authorized representative as to the fact thereof, such restaurant or food establishment shall be prohibited from operating after such sale, exchange, abandonment, or discontinuance until a new permit has been applied for and issued pursuant to the provisions of SJBMC 5-10-206 and 5-10-209.

5-10-227 Evidence of intent to sell food.

The presence in or about a place of business of any person dealing in food, or in or about any vehicle used by such person for the delivery of food, shall be prima facie evidence of intent on the part of such person to sell the same and the fact that he is holding or offering the same for sale.

5-10-230 Seizure of unwholesome food.

The Health Officer, his assistant, or his duly authorized representative are hereby authorized and directed to seize and destroy or denaturize any tainted, diseased, decayed or partly decayed, or unwholesome fish, meat, shellfish, foul, fruits, vegetables or other unwholesome foods found within the City of San Juan Bautista.

5-10-233 “Inspected and passed” stamp required.

It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation or agent or employee of any person, firm or corporation, to sell, offer for sale, distribute, or have in possession for sale or distribution in the City of San Juan Bautista, the flesh of any cattle, horse sheep, lamb, swine, or goat unless the same bears on each primal part thereof the “inspected and passed” stamp of an establishment operating under the federal inspection, state inspection, or approved municipal inspection.

5-10-236 Sale of sausage or other prepared meat or fish products subject to the laws of the State of California.

It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation, or agent of any person, firm or corporation, to sell, offer for sale, distribute, or have in possession for sale or distribution in the City of San Juan Bautista any sausage or other prepared meat or seafood products unless the same has been manufactured or prepared in accordance with the laws of the State of California.

5-10-239 Penal provisions.

Any person, firm or corporation or agent or employee of any person firm or corporation, who violates any provisions of this Chapter, or any rules or regulations promulgated by the Health Officer hereunder shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by imprisonment for not more than one (1) year in the County Jail, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

5-10-242 Promulgation of rules and regulations.

The Health Officer is hereby authorized to promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary to insure the proper sanitation in all restaurants and food establishments and for the proper and orderly administration of this Chapter.

5-10-245 Kitchens – Wire screens.

All kitchens of hotels, restaurants, lunch counters, cafeterias, candy factories, soda fountains, ice cream parlors, or other places where food is prepared or kept, shall have wire screens at all outside openings, for the purpose of excluding flies and other insects. All screened doors must be selfclosing. In addition to the screens so provided, all food shall be protected from dust, dirt and flies. All screening used in such places shall be no less than fourteen (14) mesh.

5-10-248 General regulations for bakeries, restaurants, cafes, lunch counters, cafeterias, soda fountains, ice cream parlors, soft drink stands, groceries, and other establishments preparing, serving, or distributing food or beverage for human consumption.

It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to sell, expose or offer for sale, or to cause or permit to be sold, expose or offer for sale in the City of San Juan Bautista any article of food prepared for human consumption, including crackers, rolls, buns, biscuits, muffins, bread, cake, cookies, pies, candies; cooked, smoked and/or pickled meat, and/or fish; cooked, fried or pickled vegetables and/or fruit, salad, butter or cheese, or any article of food intended for human consumption, which article of food is smoked, dried or otherwise prepared or intended for human consumption without further cooking, washing or other preparation, unless such article or articles of food are covered or enclosed by glass or with some substance or material in such a manner to prevent the handling of any such article or articles for sale; of food by any person or persons other than the person or persons selling, offering or exposing any such article or articles for sale; or to prevent such article or articles of food from coming in contact with any deleterious, unwholesome or unhealthy substance or commodities; provided, however, that the provision of this Section not to apply to uncovering food in the process of preparation or display for immediate consumption on the premises where steam tables or other service tables approved by the Health Department are in use and properly protected from unwholesome or unhealthy contamination as hereinafter provided in this Chapter.

5-10-251 Proper lighting, ventilation, plumbing, sanitation.

Every establishment where food is handled, prepared, sold or distributed shall be properly lighted, drained, ventilated, and adequate plumbing and sanitary drainage installed in accordance with the regulations of the Health Department and the Municipal Code of the City of San Juan Bautista, except as hereinafter provided.

5-10-253 Floors, walls and ceilings.

The floors shall be of good nonabsorbent material, and shall be kept in a clean sanitary condition at all times. The walls and ceilings shall be smooth, sound and cleanable, and shall be kept painted with oil paint or other approved finishing material and maintained in a clean and sanitary condition. The walls in the proximity of the sinks, mixers, stoves, ranges, or other equipment where water, grease, or matter likely to be splashed on the walls shall be constructed with approved material of sufficient height thoroughly to protect the said walls, providing that the back of the stoves be flashed with metal.

5-10-256 Drainboards.

All drainboards shall be made or constructed of metal, tile, or tile substitutes. The use of wooden drainboards, or wooden drainboards covered with metal is prohibited.

5-10-259 Toilets.

Every establishment shall be equipped with a water flush toilet, sink, and running water, which shall be handicapped accessible and which shall be so located as to be convenient to the room or rooms used for food handling purposes. All toilets shall be adjacent to lavatories or wash rooms, which shall at all times be supplied with soap and towels. The floor of such toilet rooms shall be of cement, tile laid in cement, or other nonabsorbent material. No door or other opening from a toilet room shall open directly into a kitchen, dining room, or other places where foods are served, cooked or prepared. When such an opening occurs, an anteroom, ventilated to the outer air, with a solid door is required. No owner, proprietor, or manager of any establishment shall provide or expose any toweling or similar article, except individual paper towels for use of the public generally in any place under his control, or permit any cloth towels or similar article to be provided or exposed unless such towel has been laundered after each separate use.

5-10-262 Keep free of vermin, etc.

The owner, operator or manager of every food handling place shall take every precaution to keep the premises free and rid of rats, mice, roaches, ants or other vermin or pests.

Whenever it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Health Officer that any premises or establishment engaged in the handling or preparation of food for sale or distribution is infested with rodents, vermin or pests, a written notice shall be given to the persons, firm or corporation owning, controlling, leasing or acting as agents for, or managing the establishment that said infestation with rodents, vermin or pests constitute a public nuisance and endangers public health, peace and safety, and that such infestation shall be abated within thirty (30) days from the date of receiving written notice. Failure to comply with said written notice in thirty (30) days shall constitute a violation of the provisions of this Chapter, and the Health Officer shall suspend the permit or close such establishment until such nuisance has abated.

5-10-265 Protect from flies, etc.

All foods and/or beverages in the process of preparation, distribution or display must be securely protected from flies, dust, direct and other foreign, injurious contamination.

5-10-268 Dogs, etc. prohibited.

No dogs, cats or other animals shall be harbored or permitted in any establishment where food is being prepared for sale or distribution.

5-10-271 Sawdust prohibited.

No owner, proprietor, or manager of any establishment shall provide or use on the floors, any sawdust, or similar material, except that butcher shops may use sawdust on the floors in a cooler or behind the counter.

5-10-274 Surplus containers.

All surplus boxes, crates, lug boxes and similar containers in which fruits, vegetables and other products are delivered or received shall be kept in orderly condition, and shall not be allowed to accumulate on the premises. Each container shall be kept in a clean sanitary condition and removed from the premises daily, or at intervals determined by the health officer.

5-10-277 Deciduous fruit, foods.

Deciduous fruits, or other foods subject to damage by the rays of the sun, shall be kept at all times well inside of the building proper and elevated not less than eighteen inches (18″) above the floor level.

5-10-280 Garbage containers.

Sufficient metal garbage cans, with flytight covers, shall be provided for all garbage, vegetable trimmings, trash or other refuse. A sufficient number of cans shall be available to prevent overloading and tight-fitting covers shall at all times be kept in place. Where there is an excess of vegetable trimmings or other waste material subject to decomposition, a screen room shall be constructed of screen wire of not less than fourteen (14) mesh to the inch and shall be flytight. All garbage or food waste products subject to fermentation or decomposition shall be removed every day except Sundays, or legal holidays when such establishments are closed to the public.

5-10-283 Regulations for restaurants, lunch counters, cafeterias, confectioneries, hotel kitchens and bakeries.

It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to operate any establishment without complying with the general provisions of this Chapter, and with the regulations in the subsections of this Section hereinafter provided.

(A) All stoves, ranges, candy kettles, doughnut kettles, ovens and hot plates shall be equipped with a metal canopy of a size at least four inches (4″) longer than the entire cooking surface of said cooking device, on all sides. Such canopy shall be ventilated to the outside air by a separate ventilating flue of not less than six inches (6″) in diameter, for an ordinary stove, or as much larger as the Health Department may deem necessary for effective operation.

Legislative History: Ord. 96 (9/6/55).