Department of Agriculture
Chapter 603
Division 25
FOOD ESTABLISHMENT STANDARDS AND STANDARDS FOR RETAIL FOOD SERVICE ACTIVITIES
603-025-0010
Definitions
In addition to the definitions set forth in ORS Chapter 616, the following shall apply in this Division 25:
(1) "Bulk Food" means unpackaged or unwrapped, processed or unprocessed food in aggregate containers from which quantities desired by the end user are withdrawn, but does not include fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, nuts in the shell, salad bar ingredients, or time/temperature controlled for safety foods.
(2) “Commercial food(s)” means food or food ingredient that has been processed by a licensed food establishment.
(3) "Corrosion-Resistant Materials" means those materials that maintain acceptable sanitary surface characteristics under prolonged contact with food, normal use of cleaning compounds, sanitizing solutions, and other normal conditions of usage.
(4) "Distressed Merchandise" means food which has had the label lost or destroyed, or which has been subjected to damage or possible damage due to accident, fire, flood, adverse weather, or to any other similar cause, and which may have been thereby rendered unsafe or unsuitable for human or animal consumption or use.
(5) “Domestic Kitchen” means the location in the operator’s residential dwelling where residential food preparation is conducted.
(6) "Easily Cleanable" means readily accessible and of such material, fabrication and finish that residues may be effectively removed by normal cleaning methods.
(7) "Employee" means any person working in a food establishment.
(8) “End user” means a person, who is a member of the public, who takes possession of food, and is not functioning in the capacity of an operator of a food establishment and does not offer the food for resale.
(9) "Equipment" means all display cases, storage cases, tables, counters, shelving, refrigerators, sinks, food processing preparation and packaging equipment, and any other items used in the operation of a food establishment.
(10) “Farm mix-type facility” means an establishment that is a farm and that engages in both activities that are exempt from registration under section 415 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and activities that require the establishment to be registered.
(11) "Food Source" means food shall be in a sound condition and safe for human consumption and shall be produced in compliance with applicable laws relating to food safety.
(12) "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.
(13) "Food Processing" or “processing” means the cooking, baking, heating, drying, mixing, grinding, churning, separating, extracting, cutting, freezing, or otherwise manufacturing a food or changing the physical characteristics of a food, and the packaging, canning or otherwise enclosing of such food in a container, but does not mean the sorting, cleaning, or water-rinsing of a food.
(14) "Food Retailing" or "Operating a Retail Food Store" means the preparing, packaging, storing, handling or displaying of food for sale at retail to the end user, and may include produce trimming, processed meat slicing, cheese slicing, preparing gutted and filleted fish, and providing retail customer services to change the form of food such as juice squeezing or peanut grinding (if more than one of these customer services is made available, the activities shall then be considered food processing rather than food retailing).
(15) "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 is on or off the premises and whether or not there is a charge for the food, and includes a delicatessen that offer prepared foods in individual service portions, but does not include a private home where food is prepared or served for individual family consumption, a retail food store, a food vending machine location or a supply vehicle.
(16) "Food Storage Warehouse" means any building or place where food is stored as a commercial venture or business, or stored in connection with or as a part of a commercial venture or business, but does not include a home, restaurant, rooming house, hotel or similar place where food is stored to be used or consumed by the owner or served to employees, customers, or guests, nor an establishment licensed by the Department under other laws.
(17) "Hazardous Substance" means a substance or mixture of substances which is toxic, corrosive, an irritant, flammable, which generates pressure through heat, decomposition or other means, which has been designated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a strong sensitizer or a radioactive material, or which may cause substantial personal injury or substantial illness during or as a proximate result of any reasonable foreseeable handling or use, including reasonably foreseeable ingestion by children.
(18) "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.
(19) "Kitchenware" means all multi-use utensils other than tableware.
(20) "Non-Salvageable Merchandise" means distressed merchandise which cannot be safely or practically reconditioned.
(21) "Operator" means any person having the direct and primary responsibility for the construction, maintenance, and operation of a food establishment.
(22) "Packaged" means bottled, canned, cartoned, bagged, or otherwise completely wrapped.
(23) “Pet” means a “domestic animal” as defined in ORS 167.310 which is not a service animal.
(24) "Physical Facilities" means the structure and interior surfaces of a food establishment including accessories such as soap and towel dispensers and attachments such as light fixtures and heating or air conditioning system vents.
(25) "Plant" means the building or buildings or parts thereof, used for or in connection with the manufacturing, packaging, storing, labeling, or holding of food for humans, dogs, or cats.
(26) "Potentially hazardous food" or “time/temperature controlled for safety food” means any food that consists whole or in part of milk or milk products, eggs, meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, edible crustacea, or other ingredients, including synthetic ingredients, in a form capable of supporting rapid and progressive growth of infectious or toxigenic microorganisms, but does not include food which has a pH level of 4.60 or below or a water activity (Aw) value of 0.850 or less.
(27) "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.
(28) "Reconditioning" means any appropriate process or procedure by which distressed merchandise can be brought into compliance with all federal or state requirements so as to make it suitable for consumption or for use as human or animal feed.
(29) “Residential dwelling” means a home or area within a rental unit, in which an operator makes their primary residence.
(30) "Retail Fruit and Vegetable Stand" means any place where fresh fruits or vegetables are offered for sale at retail to the end user.
(31) "Safe Materials" means articles manufactured from or composed of materials that may not reasonably be expected to result, directly or indirectly, in their becoming a component or otherwise affecting the characteristics of any food, if they are food additives or color additives (as defined in Section 201(s) or (t) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act), are used in conformity with the federal regulations adopted under Section 409 or 706 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and if they are not food additives or color additives, are used in conformity with other applicable regulations of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
(32) "Safe Temperatures" as applied to time/temperature controlled for safety food, means temperatures of 41°F or below and 135°F or above.
(33) "Salvage Dealer" or "Salvage Distributor" means any person who is engaged in selling or distributing salvaged merchandise.
(34) "Salvage Processing Facility" means an establishment engaged in the business of reconditioning distressed merchandise.
(35) "Salvage Processor" means any person who operates a salvage processing facility.
(36) "Salvaged Merchandise" means reconditioned distressed merchandise, and "salvageable merchandise" means distressed merchandise capable of being reconditioned.
(37) "Sanitize" or "Sanitization" means effective bactericidal treatment of physically clean surfaces of equipment and utensils by a process which has been approved by the Department as being effective in reducing microorganisms, including pathogens, to a safe level.
(38) "Sealed" means free of cracks or other openings that permit the entry or passage of moisture.
(39) “Service animal” means an animal such as a guide dog, signal dog, or other animal trained to provide assistance to an individual with a disability.
(40) "Servicing Area" means a designated location equipped for cleaning, sanitizing, drying, refilling product modules, or preparing bulk food.
(41) "Single-Service Articles" means items used by the retailer or end user such as cups, containers, lids, packaging materials, bags, and similar articles, intended for contact with food and designed for one-time use, but does not include single use articles, such as No. 10 cans, aluminum pie pans, bread wrappers and similar articles, into which food has been packaged by the manufacturer.
(42) "Tableware" means multi-use eating and drinking utensils.
(43) "Transportation" means the movement of food, the delivery of food from one location to another location while under the control of an operator.
(44) "Utensil" means any food-contact implement used in the storage, preparation, transportation, or dispensing of food.
(45) "Vehicle" means any truck, trailer, car, bus, railcar, aircraft, boat, ship, or barge by which food is transported from one location to another.
(46) "Warewashing" means the cleaning and sanitizing of food-contact surfaces of equipment and utensils.
(47) "Wholesome" means food found in sound condition, clean, free from adulteration and otherwise suitable for human consumption.
Statutory/Other Authority: ORS 561, ORS 616 & 619
Statutes/Other Implemented: ORS 616.230
History:
DOA 4-2024, amend filed 04/18/2024, effective 04/18/2024
DOA 12-2018, amend filed 03/12/2018, effective 03/12/2018
DOA 6-2006, f. & cert. ef. 3-10-06
DOA 29-2002, f. 12-23-02, cert. ef. 1-1-03
DOA 13-1999, f. & cert. ef. 6-15-99
AD 21-1990, f. & cert. ef. 11-27-90
AD 2-1987, f. & ef. 1-30-87