(a) “Commissary” means a catering establishment, restaurant, or any other place in which food, containers or supplies are kept, handled, prepared, packaged or stored.

(b) “Corrosion-resistant materials” means those materials that maintain their original surface characteristics under prolonged influence of the food to be contacted, the normal use of cleaning compounds and bactericidal solutions, and other conditions-of-use environment.

(c) “Easily cleanable” means that surfaces are readily accessible and made of such materials and finish and so fabricated that residue may be effectively removed by normal cleaning methods.

(d) “Employee” means the permit holder, individuals having supervisory or management duties and any other person working in a food service establishment.

(e) “Equipment” means stoves, ovens, ranges, hoods, slicers, mixers, meat blocks, tables, counters, refrigerators, sinks, dishwashing machines, steam tables, and similar items other than utensils, used in the operation of a food service establishment.

(f) “Food” means any raw, cooked, or processed edible substance, ice, beverage or ingredient used or intended for use or for sale in whole or in part for human consumption

(g) “Food-contact surface” means those surfaces of equipment and utensils with which food normally comes in contact, and those surfaces from which food may drain, drip, or splash back onto surfaces normally in contact with food.

(h) “Food processing establishment” means a commercial establishment in which food is manufactured or packaged for human consumption. The term does not include a food service establishment, retail food store, or commissary operation.

(i) “Food service establishment” means any place where food is prepared, processed, stored, or intended for use or consumption by the public regardless of whether there is a charge for the food. The term includes wholesale and retail food stores, convenience stores, food markets, delicatessens, restaurants, catering kitchens, commissaries, food processing or manufacturing plants, bottling and canning plants, wholesale and retail block and prepackaged ice manufacturing plants and food warehouses. The term does not include supply vehicles, or location of vending machines.

The following are also exempt;

(j) “Health Authority” means the Director, State Department of Health, or his authorized representative.

(k) “Hermetically sealed container” means a container designed and intended to be secure against the entry of microorganisms and to maintain the commercial sterility of its content after processing.

(l) “Kitchenware” means all multi-use utensils other than tableware.

(m) “Mobile food unit” means a vehicle-mounted food service establishment designed to be readily movable.

(n) “Packaged” means bottled, canned, cartoned, or securely wrapped.

(o) “Persons” includes any individual, partnership, corporation, assocition, or other legal entity.

(p) “Person in charge” means the individual present in a food service establishment who is the apparent supervisor of the food service establishment at the time of inspection. If no individual is the apparent supervisor, then any employee present is the person in charge.

(q) “Potentially hazardous food” means any food that consists in 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. The term does not include foods which have a p^H level of 4.6 or below or a water activity (aw) value of 0.85 or less.

(r) “Pushcart” means a non-self propelled vehicle limited to serving nonpotentially hazardous foods or commissary-wrapped food maintained at proper temperatures.

(s) “Reconstituted” means dehydrated food products recombined with water or other liquids.

(t) “Regulatory authority” means the State and/or local enforcement authority or authorities having jurisdiction over the food service establishment.

(u) “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.

(v) “Sanitization” means effective bactericidal treatment of clean surfaces of equipment and utensils by hot water or chlorine or by any other method which as been approved by the Health Authority as being effective in destroying microorganisms, including pathogens.

(w) “Sealed” means free of cracks or other openings that permit the entry or passage of moisture.

(x) Single-service articles” means cups, containers, lids, closures, plates, knives, forks, spoons, stirrers, paddles, straws, napkins, wrapping materials, toothpicks and similar articles intended for one-time, one-person use and then discarded.

(y) “Tableware” means multi-use eating and drinking utensils.

(z) “Temporary food service establishment” means a food service establishment that operates at a fixed location for a period of time of not more than 14 consecutive days in conjunction with a single event or celebration.

(aa) “Utensil” means any implement used in the storage preparation, transportation, or service of food.

(ab) “Day Care Family Home” means a situation in which children are cared for in a caregivers own family residence which is under the purview of the Child Care Facility Licensing Act, Act 434 of 1969.

(ac) “Season Operation” means an establishment operating on a season basis not to exceed a 150 day period of tine per calendar year, limited to the serving of dispensed drinks, coffee, snow cones, shaved ice, and other similar ice based products.