According to food safety experts, a new law adopted by the Pennsylvania state legislature will have an immediate impact on eating establishments in the Keystone State.
House bill 74 combined and updated many previous regulations. The new law now provides a single standard across the state, that is based off of the current U. S. Food and Drug Administration Food Code. As the Food Code is updated, the new Pennsylvania law will stay current.
One of the major changes to the law is the imposition of fees for re-inspection after a health inspection is failed. The first reinspection will result in a $150 fee, and if another re-inspection is required a fee of $300 will be imposed. Also, the previously free ‘cursory’ inspections will now cost the restaurant owner $150.
Another change are the new requirements regarding an establishment’s manager. The manager must now be the ‘certified’ manager, and is considered the person in charge of the facility. This person in charge must be available at all times the facility is operating, and can only be certified to be the person in charge of one facility at a time. The only exception to this rule is for temporary facilities, such as those at a fair.
Also, the process for attaining the needed certification has changed. In the past people simply took an approved food safety training course, passed the exam once, and then sent $20 to the Department of Agriculture to receive the official certification; no longer. Now the training course certificate will be the accepted document. This makes things easier for the state, because they no longer have to issue the certificates. For the people being certified, however, things got a little more complicated. Instead of just having to participate in 8 hours of training and sending the old certification in for renewal, they will now have to retake the certification exam every 5 years.
In summary, the laws have changed to make things easier for the state of Pennsylvania, not for the restaurant owners. With the new fee’s, these laws are also sure to be a new source of revenue for the state. Hopefully most restaurant owners will not need the costly re-inspections.
If you are in need of the Food Safety Certification Training, Penn State is offering a ServSafe Fod Safety Certification on Jan. 13 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Penn State Extension, Lancaster PA. For more information on this training, call Debbie Rubin at 717-299-7667. |
