New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 1 - DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND MARKETS › Chapter VI - Food Control › Subchapter E - Retail Food Stores (Article 19 Agriculture and Markets Law) › Part 271 - Retail Food Store Sanitation Regulations › Subpart 271-1 - General Provisions › Section 271-1.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
For the purpose of this Part, the following terms shall
						have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
						otherwise:
(a)
Bulk
					 food
means processed or unprocessed food in aggregate containers from
					 which quantities desired by the consumer are withdrawn. For the purpose of this
					 interpretation, the term does not include fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, nuts
					 in the shell, salad bars and potentially hazardous foods, except for raw,
					 frozen, shell-on shrimp or lobster.
(b)
Bulk food display area
means a location or locations, including physical facilities and equipment,
					 where bulk food is offered for customer self-service.
(c)
Comminuted
means reduced
					 in size by methods including chopping, flaking, grinding or mincing. Comminuted
					 includes fish or meat products that are reduced in size and restructured or
					 reformulated such as gefilte fish, gyros, ground beef and sausage; and a
					 mixture of two or more types of meat that have been reduced in size and
					 combined, such as sausages made from two or more meats.
(d)
Corrosion-resistant
					 materials
means those materials that maintain acceptable sanitary
					 surface characteristics under prolonged influence of the food to be contacted,
					 the normal use of cleaning compounds and sanitizing solutions, and other
					 conditions of the use environment.
(e)
Easily cleanable
means
					 that surfaces are readily accessible and made of such material and finish and
					 so fabricated that residue may be effectively removed by normal cleaning
					 methods.
(f)
Employee
means the license holder, individual having
					 supervisory or management duties, person on the payroll, family member,
					 volunteer, person performing work under contractual agreement or any other
					 person working in a food store.
(g)
Equipment
means items other than utensils used in the storage,
					 preparation, display and transportation of food such as stoves, ovens, hoods,
					 slicers, grinders, mixers, scales, meat blocks, tables, food shelving, reach-in
					 refrigerators and freezers, sinks, ice makers and similar items used in the
					 operation of a retail store. This item does not include forklift trucks or
					 dollies.
(h)
Especially
					 vulnerable consumer
means a consumer who, due to age, health, physical
					 condition or other reason, is at a significantly greater risk of illness than a
					 member of the general population. Especially vulnerable consumer includes, but
					 is not limited to, pregnant women, elderly persons, young children and
					 immuno-compromised individuals.
(i)
Fish
means fresh or saltwater finfish, crustaceans and other
					 forms of aquatic life (including alligator, frog, aquatic turtle, jellyfish,
					 sea cucumber, and sea urchin and the roe of such animals) other than birds or
					 mammals, and all mollusks, if such animal life is intended for human
					 consumption. Fish includes an edible human food product derived in whole or in
					 part from fish, including fish that have been processed in any
					 manner.
(j)
Food
means any raw, cooked or processed edible substance, ice, beverage or
					 ingredient used or intended for use or for sale in whole or in part for human
					 consumption.
(k)
Food-contact surfaces
means those surfaces of equipment and
					 utensils with which food normally comes into contact, and those surfaces from
					 which food may drain, drip or splash back onto surfaces normally in contact
					 with food.
(l)
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. The term includes delicatessens that
					 primarily offer prepared food in individual service portions; that is, over 50
					 percent of the dollar value of the business is classed as food service with a
					 minor portion related to sales as a food store; food service operations where a
					 distinct group mutually provides, prepares, serves and consumes the food such
					 as a covered-dish supper limited to a congregation, club or fraternal
					 organization; the location of food vending machines; and supply
					 vehicles.
(m)
Game
					 animal
means an animal, the products of which are food, that is not
					 classified as cattle, sheep, swine, goat, horse, mule or other equine in 9 CFR
					 subchapter A - Mandatory Meat Inspection, part 301, as Poultry in 9 CFR
					 subchapter C - Mandatory Poultry Products Inspection, part 381, or as fish.
					 Game animal includes mammals such as reindeer, elk, deer, antelope, water
					 buffalo, bison, rabbit, squirrel, opossum, raccoon, nutria or muskrat and
					 nonaquatic reptiles such as land snakes. Game animal does not include ratites
					 such as ostrich, emu and rhea.
(n)
HACCP Plan
means a written document that delineates the formal
					 procedures for following the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point principles
					 developed by the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for
					 Foods.
(o)
Hazard
means a biological, chemical or physical property that may cause an
					 unacceptable consumer health risk.
(p)
Hermetically sealed
					 container
means a container which is designed and intended to be
					 secure against the entry of microorganisms and to maintain the commercial
					 sterility of its contents after processing.
(q)
Packaged
means bottled,
					 canned, cartoned, bagged or securely wrapped.
(r)
Person
includes any
					 individual, partnership, corporation, association or other legal
					 entity.
(s)
Person in
					 charge
means the individual present in a retail food store who is the
					 supervisor of the retail food store at the time of inspection.
(t)
Potentially hazardous
					 food
means any food that consists in whole or in part of milk or milk
					 products, eggs, meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, edible crustacea or other
					 ingredients, including synthetic ingredients, and which is in a form capable of
					 supporting rapid and progressive growth of infectious or toxigenic
					 microorganisms. The term does not include: foods that have a pH level of 4.6 or
					 below or a water activity (aw) value of 0.85 or less under standard conditions;
					 food products in hermetically sealed containers commercially processed to
					 prevent spoilage.
(u)
Product module
means a food contact container (multi-use or
					 single-service) designed for customer self-service of bulk food by either
					 direct or indirect means.
(v)
Ready-to-eat food
means food that is in a form that is edible
					 without washing, cooking or additional preparation by the food establishment or
					 the consumer and that is reasonably expected to be consumed in that form.
					 Ready-to-eat food includes:
(1) potentially
					 hazardous food that is unpackaged and cooked to the temperature and time
					 required for the specific food under this section;
(2) raw, washed, cut fruits and
					 vegetables;
(3) whole, raw fruits
					 and vegetables that are presented for consumption without the need for further
					 washing, such as at a buffet; and
(4) other food presented for consumption for
					 which further washing or cooking is not required and from which rinds, peels,
					 husks or shells are removed.