California Requires New Certification for Food Handlers

The newly formed SB 602 workgroup has not yet resolved the important issue of who will be approved as trainers.

Local enforcement officials will be responsible for ensuring that food facilities meet their obligations under the law, including making sure that employees possess a valid food handler card and that the food facility is maintaining records that can be provided to local enforcement officers upon request. Failure to comply may result in administrative action that includes but is not limited to issuance of an infraction. Before implementation of SB 602 is possible, many clarifications are needed, especially with regard to enforcement.

The law exempts some food handlers but generally applies to all food facilities with the exception of those that are temporary. Individuals already holding a valid manager’s food safety certification are exempt. Current facilities and handlers exempt from the new law include:

• Food handlers with current cards from Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties;
• Food facilities with collective bargaining agreements with their food handlers; and
• Food handlers employed by certified farmers markets; commissaries; grocery stores, except for separately owned food facilities; licensed health care facilities; mobile support units; public and private school cafeterias; restricted food service facilities; and retail stores where a majority of sales are from a pharmacy.

The Ultimate Goal

Proactive prevention training is the key to reducing foodborne illnesses. It can be accomplished by minimizing the foodborne illness risk factors in a food facility. The ultimate responsibility to produce and process safe foods lies with the management and employees. Regulatory authorities generally only inspect a food facility several times a year, and each inspection provides only a snapshot of the facility at the time of inspection. Without proper and timely training, food facility operators may commit food safety errors that could lead to foodborne illness.

Four key concepts of food safety training that the California law is intended to address include the following:

• Hands are a critical transmitter of disease.
• High temperature kills. The final cook temperature is your critical control point.
• It is critical to eliminate cross contamination, especially from hands, equipment, dripping foods, and work surfaces.
• It is vital to minimize exposure to the temperature danger zone (41 to 135 degrees Fahrenheit), a concept that relates to short preparation times, monitored cooling, and thawing foods.

Improved training and education is critical, because history has proven that many food facilities that have received approved food safety training still failed to pass inspection and were forced to close. While the current training proposals only address English- and Spanish-speaking food handlers, some experts assert that training and education must be adapted to more food handlers’ languages and cultures—and that the availability of additional languages for this exam must therefore be addressed. Major barriers to learning and practicing food safety are literacy, cultural differences, socioeconomic standards, diverse skill levels, motivation of employees, lack of interest, and operators’ lack of time and feedback. Despite knowledge of food safety practices, many food handlers do not practice food safety behaviors regularly. Management must emphasize food safety as a priority even when burdened with more pressing tasks. Effective food safety instructors will be important to the food handling card-training program’s success.