California Retail Food Code requirements for restaurants
California's Retail Food Code sets restaurant permit, training and food-handling duties. Check temperatures and the conditional 2026 allergen requirement.
The California Retail Food Code, or CalCode, is Part 7 of Division 104 of the California Health and Safety Code. It sets retail food-facility standards, enforced mainly by local agencies. Start with the California statute, rather than an old PDF or an FDA model-code table.
If you searched California restaurant health code, you want the permit and operating rules in this statute.
Who enforces the California Retail Food Code?
Local agencies have primary enforcement under section 113713. CDPH says the California Retail Food Code is primarily enforced by 62 local environmental health regulatory agencies. The department can still act to protect public health.
CalCode generally makes its retail food health and sanitation standards exclusive. But section 113709 preserves certain local powers, including evaluation and grading systems. A county grading system does not mean the county can freely replace statewide food-temperature rules. See sections 113705 to 113713.
Section 113789 defines a food facility through retail storage, preparation, packaging, serving, vending or other provision of food. It also lists exclusions. Read those before treating an unusual operation like a restaurant.
Permits and restaurant plan review
Get the permit before opening. Under section 114381, a food facility cannot open for business without a valid permit. The permit is posted in a conspicuous place and is not transferable. It applies to the specified person, location, activity and period. Do not assume a previous operator's permit covers a purchase or a change of ownership.
New construction and remodeling require plan approval under section 114380. The general review provision allows 20 working days. If the agency neither approves nor rejects the plans in that period, they are deemed approved. A building permit still requires enforcement-agency plan approval.
A separate route for qualifying restaurant tenant improvements took effect January 1, 2026, through AB 671. It uses 20 business days after receipt of a complete plan. Deemed approval for permitting also requires payment of all fees and submission of the required documents.
On that route, each later resubmission must be approved or denied within 10 business days. Review is limited to deficiencies named in the initial denial. Missing that resubmission deadline is not a second automatic-approval rule.
The incorporated definitions cover an interior change to an existing building. They exclude fast food restaurants as defined in the referenced Labor Code provision. Check the tenant-improvement definitions with the enforcement agency before assuming a project qualifies. The separate professional-certification route expressly excludes these CalCode plan reviews. An architect's self-certification does not replace them.
Person in charge and food-handler cards
Don't treat a food-handler card as the answer to every training requirement. A person in charge must be present throughout operating hours under section 113945. That does not mean the certified owner or employee must always be on site.
Under section 113947.1, a facility that prepares, handles or serves nonprepackaged potentially hazardous food generally needs at least one certified owner or employee. Temporary facilities are excluded. The same person cannot meet the requirement for another facility. Keep the certificate on site and renew it every five years. Specified openings, ownership changes and loss of the certified person allow 60 days to comply.
Section 113947 also requires knowledge suited to the employee's duties, and allergen education.
Section 113948 generally requires a food-handler card within 30 days of hire. The card is valid for three years. Statutory exemptions and qualifying local programs apply, and the employer keeps the documentation. Subsection (i) makes training and testing time compensable. The employer pays necessary expenses, relieves the employee of other duties during that time, and cannot require a card as a condition of employment. Those employer rules took effect January 1, 2024.
California food code temperature requirements
Use California's statutory temperatures when you write kitchen procedures for potentially hazardous food. All entries come from sections 113996 to 114020.
| Activity | General requirement | Important qualifications |
|---|---|---|
| Holding, §113996 | At or below 41°F, or at or above 135°F | Exceptions include preparation and cooling. Qualifying roasts have a 130°F provision. Specified foods, including shell eggs, have 45°F provisions. |
| Time-only control, §114000 | Mark the food, use written procedures, and cook, serve or discard within four hours | Discard unmarked food and food past the limit. This is a written procedure, not an informal decision to skip refrigeration. |
| Cooking, §114004 | Fish, applicable meat and immediate-service eggs: 145°F for 15 seconds. Comminuted meat and specified foods: 155°F for 15 seconds or equivalents. Poultry and specified stuffed foods: 165°F for 15 seconds. | Separate roast schedules and conditional raw or undercooked exceptions apply. |
| Cooling, §114002 | From 135°F to 70°F within two hours, and from 135°F to 41°F within six hours total | Food prepared from ambient-temperature ingredients generally must reach 41°F within four hours. Other exceptions apply. |
| Reheating for hot holding, §114016 | Generally 165°F for 15 seconds, with no more than two hours between 41°F and 165°F | The section contains exceptions. This is not a rule for every immediate-service reheating. |
The six-hour cooling limit includes the drop from 135°F to 70°F in the first two hours. California's poultry provision is 165°F for 15 seconds. Do not copy a different time from an FDA model table.
Handwashing and employee illness
Keep handwashing facilities accessible, clean and supplied with cleanser and a way to dry hands. The California provision requires cleanser and warm water, with vigorous rubbing of lathered surfaces "for at least 10 to 15 seconds," then rinsing and drying. Required occasions include before food preparation, after toilet use, after handling soiled equipment, when switching from raw to ready-to-eat food, and when initially donning gloves. See sections 113953.1 to 113953.3, including the alternate double-glove procedure.
Illness reporting is a separate duty. Sections 113949.2 to 113950.5 cover specified diagnoses and wounds, exclusion for specified diagnosed infections, and restrictions for acute gastrointestinal symptoms. They also require agency notification for specified diagnoses, and for concurrent gastrointestinal symptoms in two or more employees. Clearance after a diagnosed infection is not the same step as lifting a symptom-based restriction. Do not use one return-to-work waiting period for every case.
The 2026 allergen disclosure requirement
Since July 1, 2026, section 114093.5 requires written notice of major food allergens in each menu item. The duty covers ingredients the facility knows, or reasonably should know, are present. It applies to a food facility that serves or sells food to the consumer and is subject to 21 USC 343(q)(5)(H). It does not apply to every California restaurant.
FDA's menu labeling page says the requirements apply to restaurants and similar retail food establishments in a chain of 20 or more locations, doing business under the same name and offering for sale substantially the same menu items. A final-rule note on that page also lists offering restaurant-type foods for sale. Otherwise-uncovered establishments may register every other year and elect federal coverage. Location count alone does not settle every case. Check the incorporated federal provision and the California exclusions for the specific business.
The same section 114093.5 allows a statement next to the menu or a digital disclosure. Digital disclosure needs a written alternative for a customer who cannot access it. The section excludes prepackaged foods subject to federal major-food-allergen labeling under 21 USC 343, compact mobile food operations and nonpermanent food facilities.
The major food allergen definition lists milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans and sesame. It includes specified derived proteins. Highly refined oils and specified exempt ingredients are out. SB 68 amended that definition effective January 1, 2026. The disclosure duty began later, on July 1.
Where to check the current law
Searches for the California food code, or the California Retail Food Code, dated 2009, 2011, 2013 or 2014 often land on old PDFs. Start with the current Legislative Information sections. Read the amendment note on the section before you rely on an older file. A California Retail Food Code field inspection guide can explain an inspection. It is not the statute.
RegAffairs AI has an answer on what the California Retail Food Code requires for restaurants. Confirm the permit, grading system and plan review for your site with the local enforcement agency.