Issue View | Council I | 2016 Biennial Meeting

This issue was submitted for consideration at a previous biennial meeting, see issue: 2014 I-019 ; new or additional information has been included or attached .

UFE 2 - Guidance Document for Unattended Food Establishments

At the 2014 Biennial Meeting, the Conference created the Unattended Food Establishments Committee with the following charges:

1. Develop recommendations on whether and how the Food Code should be modified to address unattended food merchandising operations.
2. Consider any existing guidance from FDA and others and develop a CFP guidance document that could assist states when addressing the need to have alternative protective provisions in place when approving a waiver or variance for entities that do not meet section 2-101.11 and 2-103.11 of the 2013 Food Code.
3. Report back at the 2016 Biennial Meeting with a recommendation to Council I.

The committee recommends that the new guidance document for Unattended Food Establishments be approved.

Industry representatives estimate that thousands of unattended food establishments have replaced traditional vending machine operations in the US. However since many jurisdictions do not routinely regulate vending operations, it is not clear how many unattended food establishments would be subject to regulation as a food establishment. Many of the unattended food establishments operations exist in closed environments, such as factories, with a known employee population and with restricted access reducing the threats of accidental or intentional contamination. If the unattended food establishments have installed and are using video surveillance this further reduces the public health impact. Additional precautions need to be implemented, such as failsafe systems for a cooler that cannot maintain TCS product at the required temperature. If none of these measures exist then the risk to the consumer increases to unacceptable levels and should not be allowed.

1. Approval of the Unattended Food Establishment Committee document titled Guidance Document for Unattended Food Establishments (attached to the Issue titled: Report - Unattended Food Establishment Committee); and
2. Posting the approved document in PDF format on the Conference for Food Protection website.