Ensuring Consumer Safety: A Deep Dive into the California Retail Food Code (Cal Code) - Essay Sample

The California Retail Food Code (Cal Code) is a law that was enacted as a broad-based coalition of federal, state, and local governments to regulate the retail food industry. The purpose of the law is to ensure the safety of the public by ensuring consumers purchase products that are unadulterated and honestly presented. The law is a model of the Federal Code and is aimed to meet various objectives of health and safety provisions. For instance, it will ensure uniformity and consistency in retail food, which will lead to safety enforcement. It also ensures increased protection of specific populations such as the vulnerable people who include the children at school and the elderly care facility clients. As a result, the law ensures that food is based on the most appropriate science that facilitates understanding of laws by consolidating different statutory provisions.

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The Cal Code provides that an individual who is in charge of food employees should possess specific knowledge such as training in food safety. Also, the individual should have extensive experience of food allergens that could affect an individual with allergic reactions (CA Health & Safety Code, 2018). The law provides that a facility should have an individual who has passed food safety certification, especially organizations that serve and handle hazardous food. A facility should also provide solutions regarding issues associated with temperature control and prevention of cross-contamination. The law also provides for a food handling training course and an assessment that will be offered through a trainer-led class examination. Security is a significant aspect, and therefore, the authority uses a computer program to effective administration and adherence to security channels. It also prohibits employees from committing an act that may cause contamination or adulteration of food, affecting consumers’ health.

The Cal Code has worked since a legislature finds and declares what the public health interest requires based on health and sanitation standards in the retail food facilities. As a result, different facilities can maintain a specific level of compliance based on the enacted regulations and procedures that are implemented by other departments (Willis, 2012). The local enforcement bears the responsibility of ensuring compliance with various provisions. As a result, nothing would prevent specific departments from executing enforcement actions to ensure the protection of public health. Also, the mandated departments must offer particular assistance such as training and program evaluation to local health agencies (Brown et al., 2016) As such, it ensures compliance with enforcement actions to safeguard public health. The law has also prevented duplication of the enforcement of the law by alleviating further enforcement in case it is deemed satisfactory. Specific departments have been tasked with determining acceptable enforcement through program evaluation of the various local enforcement agencies.

The implementation of the Cal Code has led to significant improvements in the retail food sector by ensuring the safety of consumers. The enactment of similar laws in other states would lead to substantial improvements in consumers’ safety by alleviating various issues that are reported as a result of consuming unsafe food products. According to Kang & Fuller (2018), the law limits sale of food products that are considered risky such as oysters and raw meat, to minimize contamination that might lead to health risks. Effective enforcement of the law will lead to the reclamation of cooking, especially as a means of economic empowerment for individuals in California who require it most.

References

Brown, L. G., Hoover, E. R., Ripley, D., Matis, B., Nicholas, D., Hedeen, N., & Faw, B. (2016). Retail deli slicer cleaning frequency—six selected sites, United States, 2012. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 65(12), 306-310.

CA Health & Safety Code § 114381 (2018)Kang, I & Fuller T. (2018). California Today: Home Cooks Can Now Sell Their Food in California. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/21/us/california-today-home-cook-food-law.html

Willis, J. (2012). The hazy cloud engulfing cultivation, possession, and transportation of aggregate amounts of collectively cultivated medical marijuana pursuant to California Health and Safety Code Section 11362.775. Western State University Law Review, 40(3) 135-148.