December 1, 2011
San Francisco's Healthy Foods Incentive Ordinance adopted by the Board of Supervisors in 2010 becomes effective on December 1, 2011. The law requires that restaurant meals provided with free incentive items meet child nutritional standards established by the city. DPH has already identified several restaurant chains in San Francisco affected by the law. After December 1, DPH will be communicating with these businesses in order to assess their plans and actions to comply with the law. In early 2012, DPH will provide a mechanism for members of the public to notify Department staff of potential violations of the law.
July 7, 2011
Pursuant to SB 602 enacted into law in 2010, food handlers, as defined, will be required to obtain a food handler card after taking a food safety training course and passing an exam. Concerns have been raised by industry, food safety training organizations, training providers and local enforcement agencies over the implementation of the new law and the July 1, 2011 compliance deadline. Find out more by visiting the California Conference of Directors of Environmental Health Website and Frequently Asked Questions.
June 21, 2011
On June 11, 2011 SFDPH Environmental Health staff issued a Cease & Desist order to the Underground Market, a local food venue operated by the group ForageSF. The group, whose events first began in 2009, had maintained that they were operating as a private club only exchanging locally foraged food among members and therefore exempt from food safety regulation. However, on Saturday staff confirmed that ForageSF, now operating out of an unpermitted warehouse, had significantly increased the size and scope of their operation, cooking and serving a diverse variety of foods at an event with over 1000 people in attendance. Staff observed that ForageSF allowed essentially unrestricted entry to the general public and found several high risk prepared foods, including meats and dairy products, untrained food handlers, and unsafe food handling practices. In addition, some cooking practices occurred in the facility and represented fire and injury hazards.
California law defines a retail food operation broadly as any “operation that stores, prepares, packages, serves, vends, or otherwise provides food for human consumption at the retail level." Under this definition, ForageSF is subject to the same food safety regulation that applies to over 6,000 San Francisco small and large food businesses. DPH values the creativity of the San Francisco food industry, and over the past decade, staff has been and will continue to be very supportive of innovative food enterprises. DPH routinely collaborates with food entrepreneurs to achieve their culinary and business goals. On June 16th 2011, DPH staff met with Forage SF to offer several alternatives to allow them to operate successfully as a legal and safe enterprise.
June 2, 2011
Children's Environmental Health Promotion Program has prepared a "Lead Hazard Risk Assessment and Management Guidance for Urban Gardens and Farms" for use by San Francisco residents, community groups and City agencies. The purpose of the Guidance is to assist all those engaged with local food production to do so safely, without being exposed to lead hazards in the process and reducing the potential for lead uptake by edible plants and fruit-bearing trees.
Partnerships are in progress via the citywide Food Systems Program managed by Environmental Health and the Urban Nature community gardens program managed by SF Department of the Environment. Educational workshops for the public will be planned with non-profit partner Garden for the Environment.
