Food Standards and Best Practices

In order to ensure compliance with the below standards and to gain some insight into how your operations work, we would like to conduct internal health and safety assessment at any time. The results of these assessments will be shared with you and if there are any areas in your systems that may need immediate attention, we will partner with you to develop a framework that best targets those points where your operation’s performance measures will yield the most value in terms of health and safety.

STANDARDS/BEST PRACTICES:

• Employees experiencing sneezing, coughing, runny nose, vomiting or lower gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea/vomiting, etc. shall not work in a food truck or commissary. Employees with a communicable disease shall be excluded from work. Each food truck must have a documented Health Policy available on the truck. Here is a template for reference.
• The person in charge of the truck must have a Food Safety Manager Certification from ServSafe or any other accredited food safety program. The certificate must be available and current within the last five years. All staff involved in food prep must have California food handler’s card.    
• There must be hot (120F) and cold running water at all sinks during business hours.
• Hand sinks must be fully stocked with hot running water, soap, paper towels. Hand sinks must be accessible at all times and should not be blocked or used for storage of food and/or other items.
• Effective sanitizer solution (quaternary ammonium or chlorine) at adequate concentration must be used for proper cleaning and sanitation. Sanitizing test strips must be available at all times. A sanitizer bucket must be set up and all wet/soiled towels must be stored in the sanitizer bucket and removed from service in a dirty linen storage container.  
• All food should be protected from contamination and stored in a manner that prevents the risk of cross-contamination:
• Proper food storage hierarchy
• Produce must be washed before use except for processed items like triple-washed bagged lettuces
• Use food grade container to store food items (no grocery bags allowed for food storage)
• Content of canned products should be transferred into a food grade container once the can is opened
• Food items should be stored away from chemicals, pesticides, trash, and other unsanitary items
• No food items should come in contact with surfaces stored directly on the floor. All items must be at least 6 inches off the floor
• All food items should be labeled to indicate product name and use by date
• Food contact surfaces such as cutting boards, utensils, or knives must be cleaned and sanitized between contact with raw proteins and ready-to-eat foods. Workers must change gloves between handling raw proteins and ready-to-eat foods.
• No bare hand contact with food or any food contact surface. You must use a physical barrier between the food and the hand and that can be a disposable glove, clean utensil or deli paper.
• A working digital thermometer must be present on the truck and should be used to verify the final cooking temperature of various types of proteins. A working thermometer must be present inside all refrigeration units.
• All food items must be cooked to their final internal cooking temperatures in order to kill all the bad bacteria as verified by a properly calibrated digital thermometer.  
• All raw and/or undercooked animal proteins that are intentionally served as such (sushi, poke, undercooked meats) must be accompanied with a consumer advisory, warning customers of the potential risks involved in eating the food in a raw/undercooked form. Here are the details of what you need to include.
• All hot foods should be held hot (above 135F) and cold foods should be below 41F at all times.
• All reheated foods must be reheated to least 165F for a minimum of 15 seconds.  
• No pest activity allowed on the trucks. Presence of vermin, insects, and other pests (dead or live) can trigger removal from the program.
• Chemicals must be labeled with the product name, properly covered and stored away from food and food contact surfaces.
• All food waste, garbage, and refuse must be stored in leak-proof containers and disposed of into approved dumpsters or garbage cans.
• Personal items (jackets, purses, keys, cell phone, etc.) should be stored separately from customer food and utensils. All employees must maintain good hygiene, including the following:
• Clean fingernails
• No open cuts, sores. Must apply a bandage to wound and be self-contained. If a wound is located on hands, must also wear food-grade gloves.
• Long hair must be restrained.  Wear clean clothing.
• No smoking allowed in or around food booth.  
• No watches, rings (except a plain solid band), nail polish or artificial nails. If wearing watches, rings, nail polish, or artificial nails, food-grade gloves must also be worn.
• Beverages may be consumed IF from a closed container with a straw.  
• The commissary kitchen should be maintained in generally clean conditions without evidence of excessive grease or dirt build-up that could contaminate food.