§ 113871

336 words·~2 min read·/ca/health-and-safety-code/113871

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

(a)“Potentially hazardous food” means a food that requires time or temperature control to limit pathogenic micro-organism growth or toxin formation.

(b)“Potentially hazardous food” includes a food of animal origin that is raw or heat-treated, a food of plant origin that is heat-treated or consists of raw seed sprouts, cut melons, cut tomatoes or mixtures of cut tomatoes that are not modified to render them unable to support pathogenic micro-organism growth or toxin formation, and garlic-in-oil mixtures that are not acidified or otherwise modified at a food processing plant in a way that results in mixtures that do not support growth or toxin formation as specified under subdivision (a).

(c)“Potentially hazardous food” does not include any of the following:

(1)A food with an a w value of 0.85 or less.

(2)A food with a pH level of 4.6 or below when measured at 75°F.

(3)An air-cooled, hard-boiled egg with shell intact, or an egg with shell intact that is not hard boiled, but has been pasteurized to destroy all viable salmonellae.

(4)A food in an unopened, hermetically sealed container that is commercially processed to achieve and maintain commercial sterility under conditions of nonrefrigerated storage and distribution.

(5)A food that has been shown by appropriate microbial challenge studies approved by the enforcement agency not to support the rapid and progressive growth of infectious or toxigenic micro-organisms that may cause food infections or food intoxications, or the growth and toxin production of Clostridium botulinum, such as a food that has an a w and a pH that are above the levels specified under paragraphs

(1)and

(2)and that may contain a preservative, other barrier to the growth of micro-organisms, or a combination of barriers that inhibit the growth of micro-organisms.

(6)A food that does not support the rapid and progressive growth of infectious or toxigenic micro-organisms, even though the food may contain an infectious or toxigenic micro-organism or chemical or physical contaminant at a level sufficient to cause illness.