WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor

Ch. 297

CHAPTER 297

(House Bill 159)

AN ACT concerning

Food Establishments - Regulation

FOR the purpose of providing for the licensing and regulation of
food establishments; repealing certain existing duplicative
or obsolete provisions of the law regarding the sale of
butter and margarine, wheat flour, adulterated candy or
lozenges, the sale of ice, the sale of bottled drinking
water, posting lifesaving charts in restaurants, the sale of
tomatoes, tomato juice and vinegar, coffee with chicory, and
products containing methyl and denatured alcohol, the
licensing and regulation of soft drinks, cold storage and
cold storage warehouses, canneries, frozen food processing
plants, crab meat and crab meat plants, shellfish and other
miscellaneous food and food establishment provisions;
creating a new subtitle "Subtitle 3. Food Establishment";
defining certain terms; specifying certain food products not
regulated by this Act; providing the purpose of this Act;
requiring the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to
adopt rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of
this Act; allowing certain political subdivisions to adopt
certain laws, ordinances, rules, and regulations; requiring
that a person who operates a food establishment must be
licensed by the Department; providing certain exceptions to
certain requirements for excluded organizations, and
requiring the Department to set certain separate standards
for those groups; providing that under certain circumstances
a license issued by a certain political subdivision
constitutes the license required under this Act;
establishing license requirements; providing for a license
fee and authorizing the Department and local health
departments to assess, collect, and provide for exemptions
from certain fees; providing that the Department may
suspend, revoke, or modify a food establishment license
under certain circumstances; providing for renewal of a
license; allowing for the inspection of any food
establishment; providing for notice, orders, hearings, and
other methods of enforcing this Act; requiring that certain
plans and specifications be submitted to and approved by the
Department or appropriate county health department before a
food establishment is constructed, altered, or remodeled;
allowing the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the
Department of Agriculture to inspect certain foods for
wholesomeness; providing an exemption from their this Act
for certain group homes; providing that certain structures

- 1265 -