Section 760.20  Definitions

 

For the purpose of this Part:

 

            "Acceptable product list" means a list of foods, acceptable to the regulatory authority, which because of their characteristics will present a barrier to the growth of Clostridium botulinum.

 

            "Barrier" means a safety factor of a physical, biological, or chemical nature which inhibits or minimizes the growth of microorganisms including those which may be infectious or toxigenic.

 

            "Beef pattie mix" (or "Beef Patties" if in pattie form) means chopped beef with or without the addition of beef fat as such and/or seasonings.

 

            "Bulk food" means processed or unprocessed food in aggregate containers from which quantities desired by the consumer are withdrawn.

 

            "Cold smoke process" is a smoking process used to apply smoke or a smoke flavor at or below ambient temperature to food products not sufficiently darkened in the original smoking operation.

 

            "Comminuted" means reduced in size by methods including chopping, flaking, grinding or mincing.  It includes fish or meat products that are reduced in size and restructured or reformulated, such as gefilte fish, formed roast beef, gyros, ground beef, and sausage; and a mixture of 2 or more types of meat that have been reduced in size and combined, such as sausages made from 2 or more meats.

 

            "Controlled atmosphere packaging (CAP)" means an active packaging system which continuously maintains the desired atmosphere within the package throughout the shelf-life of the product.  CAP uses an agent to bind or "scavenge" oxygen permeating the package, or a sachet to emit a gas.

 

            "Cook-chill processing" means a process in which a plastic bag is filled with hot cooked food and the air is expelled while the bag is being sealed before being blast or tumble chilled.

 

            "Corrosion-resistant materials" means those materials that maintain acceptable sanitary surface characteristics under prolonged influence of the food to be contacted, the normal use of cleaning compounds and sanitizing solutions, and other conditions of the use environment.

 

            "Critical control point" means any point or procedure in a specific food processing or packaging operation where loss of control may result in an unacceptable health risk.

 

            "Curing" means the placing in or on edible flesh of approved ingredients, such as a solution or mixture containing chloride and nitrite salts of sodium or potassium, water, sodium erythorbate or ascorbate, sodium phosphates, sweeteners (dextrose and cane sugar) and flavorings.

 

            "Department" means the Illinois Department of Public Health.

 

            "Dedicated equipment or personnel" means equipment or personnel reserved solely for the use of one food processing operation to prevent cross-contamination.

 

            "Easily cleanable" means that surfaces are readily accessible and made of such material and finish and so fabricated that residue can be effectively removed by normal cleaning methods.

 

            "Employee" means the permit holder, individual having supervisory or management duties, person on the payroll, family member, volunteer, person performing work under contractual agreement, or any other person working in a food store.

 

            "Equipment" means items other than utensils used in the storage, preparation, display, and transportation of food, such as stoves, ovens, hoods, slicers, grinders, mixers, scales, meat blocks, tables, food shelving, reach-in refrigerators and freezers, sinks, ice makers, and similar items used in the operation of a retail food store.  This item does not include fork lift trucks or dollies.

 

            "Field dressed" means the removal of the visceral organs of an animal following the animal's death in the field.

 

            "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.

 

            "Food-contact surfaces" means those surfaces of equipment and utensils with which food normally comes into contact, and those surfaces from which food may drain, drip, or splash back onto surfaces normally in contact with food.

 

            "Food employee" means an individual working with unpackaged food, food equipment or utensils, or food-contact surfaces.

 

            "Food service establishment" means any place where food is prepared and intended for, though not limited to, individual portion service, and includes the site at which individual portions are provided.  The term includes any such place regardless of whether consumption is on or off the premises and regardless of whether there is a charge for the food.  The term includes delicatessens that offer prepared food in individual service portions. The term does not include lodging facilities serving only a continental breakfast (a continental breakfast is one limited to only coffee, tea, and/or juice and commercially prepared sweet baked goods), private homes where food is prepared or served for individual family consumption, retail food stores, the location of food vending machines, and supply vehicles.

 

            "Game animal" means an animal, the products of which are food, that is not classified as cattle, sheep, swine, or goat in 9 CFR 301 (Mandatory Meat Inspection, Definitions); as poultry in 9 CFR 381 (Mandatory Poultry Products Inspection, Poultry products inspection regulations); as meat in the Illinois Meat and Poultry Act [225 ILCS 650]; or as fish.  Game animal includes wild and not demestically raised animals such as reindeer, elk, deer, antelope, water buffalo, bison, rabbit, squirrel, bear, and muskrat; aquatic and nonaquatic birds such as wild ducks and geese, quail, and pheasant; nonaquatic reptiles such as rattlesnakes; and aquatic mammals.  It also includes exotic animals as defined in 9 CFR 1 (Animal Welfare, Definition of Terms), such as lion, tiger, leopard, elephant, camel, antelope, anteater, kangaroo and water buffalo, and species of foreign domestic cattle, such as Ankole, Gayal and Yak.

 

            "Ground beef" means chopped or ground beef with or without seasoning and without the addition of beef fat and shall not contain more than 30 percent fat.

 

            "Hamburger" means chopped beef with or without the addition of beef fat and/or seasoning and shall not contain more than 30 percent fat.

 

            "Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) Program" means a comprehensive food safety control plan which includes a step-by-step description of the food processing, packaging and storage procedures including identification of critical control points (CCPs); the food contact surface cleaning and sanitizing procedures; lot identification procedures and training procedures.

 

            "Hermetically sealed container" means a container which is designed and intended to be secure against the entry of microorganisms and to maintain the commercial sterility of its contents after processing.

 

            "Injected" means manipulating a meat so that infectious or toxigenic microorganisms may be introduced from its surface to its interior through tenderizing with deep penetration or injecting the meat, such as with juices, which may be referred to as injecting, pinning or stitch pumping.

 

            "Law" includes applicable Federal, State, and local statutes, ordinances, and regulations.

 

            "Lot" means a unique run of processed or packaged product with a specifically designated date and processing operation.

 

            "Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP)" means a one-time gas-flushing and sealing process.  The gas atmosphere within the package after sealing is then allowed to passively change due to factors of container permeability and food product respiration.

 

            "Official Methods of Analysis" means the Official Methods of Analysis of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists, 15th Edition, or Standard Methods for Examination of Dairy Products, 15th Edition, as incorporated in Section 760.15(d) and (e).

 

            "Packaged" means bottled, canned, cartoned, bagged, or securely wrapped.

 

            "Partially defatted beef fatty tissue" means a beef by-product derived from the low temperature rendering (not exceeding 120 degrees Fahrenheit) of fresh beef tissue.  Such product shall have a pinkish color and a fresh odor and appearance.

 

            "Person" includes any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity.

 

            "Person in charge" means the individual present in a retail food store who is the supervisor of the retail food store at the time of inspection.

 

            "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, and which is in a form capable of supporting rapid and progressive growth of infectious or toxigenic microorganisms.  The term does not include foods that have a pH level of 4.6 or below or a water activity (a(w)) value of 0.85 or less under standard conditions; food products in hermetically sealed containers processed to prevent spoilage.

 

            "Preservative" means any curing agent or curing accelerator (specific chemical agent which extends the shelf life of the product) which cures, accelerates color fixing or preserves color in meat or poultry products including but not limited to sodium or potassium nitrate, sodium or potassium nitrite, ascorbic acid, erythorbic acid, glucono delta lactone, sodium ascorbate, sodium erythorbate, citric acid, sodium citrate or sodium benzoate.

 

            "Processing" means to manufacture, compound, intermix or prepare food products for sale or for customer service.

 

            "Ready-to-eat food" means food that is in a form that is edible without washing, cooking, or additional preparation by the food establishment or the consumer and that is reasonably expected to be consumed in that form. Ready-to-eat food includes:

 

            Unpackaged potentially hazardous food that is cooked to the temperature and time required for specific food under Section 760.190;

 

            Raw, washed, cut fruit and vegetables;

 

            Whole raw fruits and vegetables that are intended for consumption without the need for further washing, such as at a buffet, but excludes whole raw fruits and vegetables offered for retail sale; and

 

            Other food presented for consumption for which further washing or cooking is not required and from which rinds, peels, husks, or sheets are removed.

 

            "Regulatory authority" means the State and/or local enforcement authority or authorities having responsibility for enforcing this Part.

 

            "Retail food store" means any establishment or section of an establishment where food and food products are offered to the consumer and intended for, though not limited to, off-premises consumption.  The term includes delicatessens that offer prepared food in bulk quantities only.  The term does not include establishments which handle only prepackaged spirits; roadside markets that offer only fresh fruits and fresh vegetables for sale; food service establishments; or food and beverage vending machines.

 

            "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.

 

            "Sanitization" means effective bactericidal treatment by a process that provides enough accumulative heat or concentration of chemicals for enough time to reduce the bacterial count, including pathogens, to a safe level (when those disease organisms which may be present are destroyed so as to prevent transfer) on cleaned food-contact surfaces of utensils and equipment,

 

            "Sealed" means free of cracks or other openings that permit the entry or passage of moisture.

 

            "Showering" means a potable water spray with or without liquid smoke in the smoke house which, depending on when the water spray is applied, maintains humidity, flavors, decreases cooking time, promotes rapid cooling or reduces casing shrinkage.

 

            "Single-service articles" means items used by the retailer or consumer such as cups, containers, lids, and packaging materials, including bags and similar articles, intended for contact with food, and designed for one-time use.  The term does not include "single use" articles such as number 10 cans, aluminum pie pans, bread wrappers and similar articles into which food has been packaged by the manufacturer.

 

            "Smoke generator" means a piece of equipment attached or integral to a smoke house which provides smoke to the smoke house, usually by slowly augering sawdust onto a heating element with the resulting smoke being drawn into the smokehouse.

 

            "Smoke house" means a piece of equipment or room sized enclosure used to conduct the smoking process with a smoke source, adequate ventilation, heat and humidity source if necessary, approved plumbing and waste lines if necessary, support structures for the food products to be smoked and a method to determine internal product temperature.

 

            "Smoking" means the process of subjecting meat cuts and other foods to an environment of heat and smoke generated from hardwood, hardwood sawdust, corn cobs or natural liquid smoke that has been transformed into a gaseous state by application of direct heat.

 

            "Special event" means a unique event at a particular location such as a celebration, festival or fundraiser that occurs no more than twice a year.

 

            "Temporary Retail Food Store" means a retail store 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.  The term does not include establishments that handle only fresh fruits and fresh vegetables, or temporary food service establishments.

 

            "Transportation" (transported) means movement of food within the retail food store or delivery of food from that retail food store to another place while under the control of the person in charge.

 

            "Utensil" means any food-contact implement used in the storage, preparation, transportation, or dispensing of food.

 

            "Voluntary inspection" means an inspection of meat or poultry products, which are not subject to the federal or State meat or poultry inspection laws, and for which the federal or State mark of inspection is requested.

 

            "Warewashing" means the cleaning and sanitizing of food-contact surfaces of equipment and utensils.

 

(Source:  Amended at 20 Ill. Reg. 3307, effective February 5, 1996)