ASSEMBLY, No. 636

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

216th LEGISLATURE

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2014 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman  PAUL D. MORIARTY

District 4 (Camden and Gloucester)

Assemblyman  PATRICK J. DIEGNAN, JR.

District 18 (Middlesex)

SYNOPSIS

     Requires DOH to establish uniform standards for retail food establishment health and sanitary evaluation placards.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

An Act concerning retail food establishment health and sanitary evaluation placards and supplementing Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

     1.    a.  The Commissioner of Health, in consultation with local health agencies, shall establish a uniform standard for health and sanitary evaluation placards that represent a health inspector’s evaluation of the health and sanitary conditions of a retail food establishment and are posted by that establishment in a conspicuous place for view by the public.

     The uniform standard shall include a three-tier, color-coded evaluation placard system based upon a retail food establishment’s level of compliance with the provisions of chapter 24 of Title 8 of the New Jersey Administrative Code (N.J.A.C.8:24-1.1 et seq.).

     b.    For purposes of this section, “retail food establishment” shall have the same meaning as defined in N.J.A.C. 8:24-1.5.

     2.    The Commissioner of Health shall promulgate rules and regulations, pursuant to the “Administrative Procedure Act,” P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), necessary to effectuate the purposes of this act.

     3.    This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month next following the date of enactment, but the Commissioner of Health  may take such anticipatory administrative action in advance thereof as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.

STATEMENT

     This bill requires the Commissioner of Health, in consultation with local health agencies, to establish a uniform standard for health and sanitary evaluation placards that represent a health inspector’s evaluation of the health and sanitary conditions of a retail food establishment.  These placards are posted by that establishment in a conspicuous place for view by the public.

     Currently, upon the conclusion of a retail food establishment’s health inspection, the inspector issues one of three evaluation placards: “satisfactory,” “conditionally satisfactory,” or “unsatisfactory.”  There is no uniform color-coded standard in the State for visually distinguishing between the three evaluation placards.

     This bill requires the new uniform standard to include a three-tier color-coded evaluation placard system based upon a retail food establishment’s compliance with the department’s regulations.