Q.01

What does the California Retail Food Code require for restaurants?

The California Retail Food Code (CalCode) is Part 7 (sections 113700-114437) of Division 104 of the California Health and Safety Code. A restaurant must hold a valid permit from its local environmental health agency and have plans approved before it builds or remodels. Its day-to-day duties cover staff training and certification, employee health and hygiene, food temperatures, sanitizing, consumer advisories, allergen disclosure (in force since 1 July 2026), and children's-meal drinks. Enforcement is done mainly by the 62 local environmental health agencies, with CDPH's Food and Drug Branch giving technical support.

Approach: CalCode isn't in the datasets I can search, so I used official sources. The Legislature's site (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov) and CDPH's pages wouldn't open, so the section text below comes from the Alameda County Department of Environmental Health's compilation of CalCode effective 1 January 2026. Alameda County is a local enforcement agency; the binding text is the Health and Safety Code itself.

Staffing and knowledge

  • Person in charge (§113945): the permit holder "shall" make sure a person in charge is present during all hours of operation.
  • Allergen knowledge (§113947(b)): the person in charge must know the major food allergens and the symptoms they can cause, and must educate employees about them.
  • Food safety manager certificate (§113947.1):
    • A facility handling non-prepackaged potentially hazardous food "shall" have at least one owner or employee who has passed an accredited certification exam.
    • That person can't count as the certified person for another facility, and needn't be on site at all times.
    • New or changed-ownership facilities have 60 days to comply. The certificate must be kept on file, and holders must recertify every five years.
  • Food handler cards (§113948):
    • Required within 30 days of hire, valid for three years.
    • The facility must keep records proving each handler has a valid card.
    • Training time is paid "hours worked", and the employer pays any costs. An employer "shall not" require applicants to already hold a card.
    • There are listed exemptions, for example grocery stores, school cafeterias, and facilities under a collective bargaining agreement with their food handlers.

Employee health and hygiene

  • Reporting: employees must report diagnoses of Salmonella typhi, Salmonella spp., Shigella, E. histolytica, shiga-toxin E. coli, hepatitis A or norovirus, and certain wounds (§113949.2, §113949.4).
  • Notifying the agency: the person in charge must notify the local agency of such a diagnosis, or when two or more employees have gastrointestinal symptoms at the same time (§113949.5).
  • Excluding or restricting staff (§113950): the person in charge must exclude diagnosed staff and restrict staff with acute gastrointestinal symptoms.
  • Handwash sinks (§113953):
    • Food facilities built or extensively remodelled after 1 January 1996 that handle non-prepackaged food need handwash sinks used only for handwashing in prep and warewashing areas.
    • Water must run warm for at least 15 seconds; where it isn't adjustable at the faucet, it must be 100-108°F.
    • A 6-inch splashguard is needed unless the sink is 24 inches or more from the warewashing drainboard.
  • Hand contact with food: hands must be washed for 10-15 seconds at 11 listed trigger points (§113953.3). Bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food must be minimised, using utensils or gloves (§113961).
  • Gloves (§113973): latex gloves are prohibited.
  • Appearance: hair restraints (§113969) and clean outer clothing (§113971) are required.

Time and temperature

RequirementLimit
Hot/cold holding of potentially hazardous food (§113996)at or above 135°F, or at or below 41°F
Cooling (§114002)135°F to 70°F within 2 h; to 41°F within 6 h total; 4 h to 41°F if made from ambient ingredients
Time as a public health control (§114000)mark, then use or discard within 4 h; written procedures required
Cooking (§114004)145°F/15 s for fish, meat and eggs cooked to order; 155°F/15 s for ground meat and injected meat; 165°F/15 s for poultry and stuffed foods
Reheating for hot holding (§114016)165°F/15 s, within 2 h
Thawing (§114020)under refrigeration at 41°F or below; under running water at 70°F or below for 2 h or less; in a microwave if prepared immediately; or as part of cooking

Food sourcing and consumer information

  • Approved sources (§114021): food "shall" come from sources that comply with the law. Home-prepared food isn't allowed unless it comes from a registered or permitted cottage food operation.
  • Raw or undercooked animal foods (§114093): the permit holder "shall" give consumers both a disclosure and a reminder, for example an asterisked menu footnote.
  • Allergen disclosure (§114093.5, from 1 July 2026):
    • Applies to facilities subject to federal chain menu labelling (21 U.S.C. 343(q)(5)(H)).
    • They "shall" disclose in writing the major food allergens in each menu item, either on the menu or digitally (for example by QR code). If digital, they must also offer an alternative such as an allergen chart.
    • The nine major allergens are milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans and sesame (§113820.5).
  • Chain menu labelling: those facilities must also comply with federal menu labelling. Fines run from $50 to $2,500 for repeat violations (§114094).
  • Children's meals (§114379.20): the default drink with a restaurant's children's meal must be water with no added sweeteners, unflavored milk, or a nondairy milk alternative of no more than 130 calories. A first violation gets a notice; later fines go up to $500 (§114379.50).

Warewashing

  • Sink: manual warewashing needs a three-compartment sink with two drainboards (§114099). The wash solution must be at least 100°F (§114099.2).
  • Manual sanitizing (§114099.6): 171°F water for 30 s, 100 ppm chlorine for 30 s, 25 ppm iodine for 1 min, or 200 ppm quaternary ammonium for 1 min.
  • Machine sanitizing (§114099.7): utensil surface temperature of 160°F, or 50 ppm chlorine.

Permits, plan review and enforcement

  • Plan review (§114380):
    • Plans must be approved before any construction or remodelling, and may also be required for a menu change.
    • The agency has 20 working days to decide, or the plans are deemed approved.
    • From 2026, restaurant tenant-improvement plans are deemed approved after 20 business days. Resubmissions must be decided within 10 business days.
    • Existing facilities that complied with the law on 30 June 2007 are deemed compliant until replaced or renovated, unless they pose a public health hazard.
  • Permits (§114381): a facility "shall not" open without a valid permit. Permits can't be transferred and must be posted conspicuously.
  • Operating without permits (§114387): the facility can be closed and fined up to three times the permit cost.
  • Inspections (§114390, §114393): officers may enter, inspect, take samples and impound food or equipment. Refusing entry is a violation.

Other chapters with restaurant-relevant duties that I didn't read in detail: storage, display, equipment, ventilation, plumbing, physical facilities, vermin control, permanent food facility construction (Chapter 9), and HACCP and variances (Chapter 13).

Sources:

Q.02