Rhode Island Code of Regulations › Title 216 - Department of health › Chapter 50 - Environmental health › Subchapter 10 - Food Protection › Part 1 - Rhode Island Food Code › Section 216-RICR-50-10-1.3 - Definitions

Current through June 14, 2024
A. Wherever used in this Part, the terms
				  listed below shall be construed in the following manner:
1. "Approved" means approved by the Director
				  or his or her duly appointed agents.
2. "Approved source" means that the food is
				  purchased from commercial supplies, including cottage food manufacturers, under
				  regulatory control that has been deemed acceptable by RIDOH based on a
				  determination of conformity with principles, practice and generally recognized
				  standards that protect public health.
3. "Bed and breakfast" means an
				  owner-occupied residence providing accommodations for a charge to the public in
				  operation for more than ten (10) nights in a twelve (12) month period.
				  Breakfast may be only provided to guests. The total number of visitors shall
				  not exceed twelve (12), including the owner and any other individuals living or
				  eating on the premises. Bed and breakfast establishments shall not include
				  motels, hotels or boarding houses.
4. "Center" means the Center for Food
				  Protection, RIDOH.
5. "Code" means
				  the FDA Food Code (2017).
6.
				  "Commissary" means an operating base location to which a mobile food
				  establishment or transportation vehicle returns regularly for such things as
				  food preparation, food storage, vehicle and equipment cleaning, discharging
				  liquid or solid wastes, refilling water tanks and ice bins.
7. "Cottage food manufacture" means the
				  production in accordance with the requirements of R.I. Gen. Laws §
											21-27-6.2 of allowable foods for
				  retail sale directly to the consumer in a residential kitchen or a rented
				  commercial kitchen licensed by RIDOH.
8. "Director" refers to the Director of RIDOH
				  or the Director's duly appointed agents.
9. "Employee" means any person who works with
				  or without pay in a food establishment.
10. "Farm home food manufacture" means the
				  production in accordance with the requirements of R.I. Gen. Laws §
											21-27-6.1 of food for retail sale
				  in a residential kitchen on a farm which produces agricultural products for
				  human consumption and the operator of which is eligible for exemptions from the
				  sales and use tax in accordance with R.I. Gen. Laws §44-1830(32).
11. "Farmer's market" means a market where
				  two (2) or more farmers are selling produce exclusively grown on their own
				  farms on a retail basis to consumers. Excluded from this term is any market
				  where farmers or others are selling produce at wholesale and/or any market in
				  which any individual is selling produce not grown on his or her own
				  farm.
12. "Food" means:
a. Articles used for food or drink for people
				  or animals;
b. Chewing gum;
				  and/or
c. Articles used for
				  components of any food or drink article.
13. "Food business" means and includes any
				  establishment or place, whether fixed or mobile, where food or ice is held,
				  processed, manufactured, packaged, prepared, displayed, served, transported or
				  sold.
14. "Food service
				  establishment" means any fixed or mobile restaurant, coffee shop, cafeteria,
				  short-order caf & Atilde; ,luncheonette, grill, tearoom, sandwich shop,
				  soda fountain, tavern, bar, cocktail lounge, nightclub, roadside stand,
				  industrial feeding establishment, cultural heritage education facility,
				  private, public or non-profit organization or institution routinely serving
				  food, catering kitchen, commissary or similar place in which food or drink is
				  prepared for sale or for service on the premise or elsewhere, and any other
				  eating or drinking establishment or operation where food is served or provided
				  for the public with or without charge.
15. "Full-time equivalent" means forty (40)
				  hours a week.
16. "Good hygiene
				  practices" means proper handwashing and personal cleanliness as specified under
				  §§2-3 and
				  2-4 of the Code.
17. "Hazard analysis critical control point"
				  or "HACCP" means a written document that delineates the formal procedures for
				  following HACCP principles developed by the National Advisory Committee on
				  microbiological criteria for foods.
18. "Highly susceptible population" means
				  persons who are more likely than other people in the general population to
				  experience foodborne disease because they are:
a. Immunocompromised, preschool age children,
				  or older adults; and
b. Obtaining
				  food at a facility that provides services such as custodial care health care or
				  assisted living, such as a child or adult day care center, kidney dialysis
				  center, hospital or nursing home, or nutritional or socialization services such
				  as a senior center.
19.
				  "Itinerant vendor" means a food vending business serving food or drink from any
				  establishment or conveyance without food locations and without connection to
				  water supply and sewage disposal systems.
20. "Manager certified in food safety" means
				  a person certified in this State in accordance with the requirements in R.I.
				  Gen. Laws Chapter
				  21-27.
21. "Mobile food establishment" or "MFE"
				  means a food service operation that is operated from a movable motor driven or
				  propelled vehicle, portable structure, or watercraft that can change
				  location.
22. "Mobile food service
				  unit" means a unit that prepares and/or sells food products for direct
				  consumption.
23. "Operator" in
				  relation to food vending machines means any person who by contract, agreement,
				  lease, rental or ownership sells food from vending machines.
24. "Person" means any individual, firm,
				  co-partnership, association, or private or municipal corporation.
25. "Person in charge" means the individual
				  present at a food establishment who is responsible for the operation at the
				  time of inspection.
26. "Permanent
				  food establishment" or "PFE" means a licensed food establishment operating in a
				  permanently constructed structure. This does not include a temporarily food
				  establishment or mobile food establishment.
27. "Processor" means one who combines,
				  handles, manufactures or prepares, packages and stores food products.
28. "Retail peddler" means a food business
				  which sells meat, seafood, and dairy products directly to the consumer, house
				  to house or in a neighborhood.
29.
				  "RIDOH" means the Rhode Island Department of Health.
30. "R.I. Gen. Laws" means the General Laws
				  of Rhode Island, as amended.
31.
				  "Roadside farm stand" means a stand or location adjacent to a farm where
				  produce grown only on that farm is sold at the time of harvest.
32. "Special event" means a temporary event,
				  or transitory public gathering that takes place at a given location for a
				  specific purpose, including, but not limited to, a fair, festival, exposition,
				  show, concert or other similar activity that does not recur on a regularly
				  scheduled basis within a year and is conducted wholly on public property or
				  partly on public property. The event has a defined start and stop date, with
				  the given event not exceeding fourteen (14) consecutive days.
33. "Special event sponsor" means the person,
				  group, association, organization, corporation or governmental agency sponsoring
				  or promoting and coordinating a special event.
34. "Temporary food establishment" means a
				  food establishment that operates for a period of no more than fourteen (14)
				  consecutive days in conjunction with a single event or celebration.
35. "Time temperature control for safety
				  food" or "TCS" means any food or food ingredient, natural or synthetic, in a
				  form capable of supporting pathogenic microorganism growth or toxin
				  formation.
36. "Vending machine
				  site or location" means the room, enclosure, space or area where one (1) or
				  more vending machines are installed and/or operated.
37. "Warehouse" means a place for the storage
				  of dried, fresh or frozen food or food products, not including those areas
				  associated within or directly part of a food establishment or retail
				  market.