2023 New York Laws › AGM - Agriculture and Markets › Article 28 - Special Powers and Duties of the Department With Respect to Retail Food Stores, Food Service Establishments and Food Warehouses › 500 - Special Powers and Duties of the Department With Respect to Retail Food Stores, Food Service Establishments and Food Warehouses.

§  500.  Special  powers  and duties of the department with respect to
retail food stores, food service establishments and food warehouses.  1.
Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall
have the following meanings:
(a)  "Food  service  establishment"  means  any  place  where  food is
prepared and intended for individual portion service, and  includes  the
site  at  which  individual  portions  are provided, whether consumption
occurs on or off the premises, or whether or not there is a  charge  for
the food.
(b)  "Retail  food  store"  means  any  establishment or section of an
establishment where food and food products are offered to  the  consumer
and  intended  for  off-premises  consumption. The term does not include
establishments which handle only pre-packaged, non-potentially hazardous
foods,  roadside  markets  that  offer  only  fresh  fruits  and   fresh
vegetables  for  sale, food service establishments, or food and beverage
vending machines.
(c) "Zone" means an administratively determined geographic portion  of
the state to which inspectors are assigned by the department.
(d)  "Food  warehouse" shall mean any food establishment in which food
is held for commercial distribution.
2. Each retail food store shall post a copy of the date and results of
its most recent sanitary inspection by the department in  a  conspicuous
location  near  each public entrance, as prescribed by the commissioner.
Such copies shall also be made available to the public upon request.
3. (a) The department shall assign at least one retail food specialist
to each inspection zone.  Such  specialists  shall  assist  retail  food
stores in remedying chronic deficiencies and shall ensure that effective
pest control and other sanitary measures are properly implemented.
(b)  Such  specialists  shall  be  given  additional  training to that
normally provided to sanitary  inspectors  to  qualify  them  for  their
duties  under  this  section,  with  particular emphasis on the problems
unique to retail food stores and pest control measures.
4. The department shall inspect each retail food store at  least  once
in  every  twelve  month  period.  Any  store that fails two consecutive
inspections shall be inspected at least once in every six  month  period
until  it  has  passed  two consecutive inspections. In the event that a
retail food store fails three consecutive  inspections,  the  department
may,  in  its  discretion,  order such establishment to cease all retail
operation until it passes inspection or suspend or  revoke  any  license
issued  to  such  establishment  pursuant  to  article  twenty-C of this
chapter.
5. Licensure. No person shall maintain or operate a retail food store,
food service establishment or food warehouse unless  such  establishment
is  licensed  pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  this article, provided,
however, that establishments registered, permitted or  licensed  by  the
department  pursuant  to  other provisions of this chapter, under permit
and inspection by the state department of health or by  a  local  health
agency  which  maintains  a  program certified and approved by the state
commissioner of health, or subject to inspection by  the  United  States
department  of  agriculture pursuant to the federal meat, poultry or egg
inspection programs, shall be exempt from licensure under this  article.
Application   for  licensure  of  a  retail  food  store,  food  service
establishment or food warehouse shall be made, upon a form prescribed by
the commissioner, on or before December first of every  other  year  for
the   registration   period  beginning  January  first  following.  Upon
submission of a completed  application,  together  with  the  applicable
licensing fee, the commissioner shall issue a license to the retail food
store,  food  service  establishment  or food warehouse described in the

application for two years from the date of  issuance.  The  license  fee
shall  be  two  hundred  fifty  dollars  provided,  however,  that  food
warehouses  shall  pay  a  license  fee   of   four   hundred   dollars.
Notwithstanding  the  preceding  sentence,  the commissioner shall, upon
submission of a completed application for a new license by an  applicant
that  is  a  chain  store, as defined by subdivision five of section two
hundred fifty-one-z-two of this chapter, issue such license for a period
ending on the same date as the licenses of the other chain  stores  that
are a part of the same network.