NC Food Code

Notice to All Yadkin County Food Service Facilities

As of January 1, 2019 all refrigeration in permitted food service facilities must be capable of maintaining food at an internal temperature of 41 F or below at all times. For more information on this new requirement, view the 2019 Cold Holding Changes (PDF).

On September 1, 2012, the State of North Carolina adopted new food service regulations based on the 2009 FDA Food Code. These regulations are based on controlling the five major risk factors related to employee behaviors and preparation practices in retail and food service establishments as contributing to foodborne illness:

  • Improper holding temperatures
  • Inadequate cooking, such as under cooking raw shell eggs
  • Contaminated equipment
  • Food from unsafe sources
  • Poor personal hygiene

Public Health Interventions

The Food Code addresses controls for risk factors and further establishes five key public health interventions to protect consumer health. These interventions are: demonstration of knowledge, employee health controls, controlling hands as a vehicle of contamination, time and temperature parameters for controlling pathogens, and the consumer advisory.

Yadkin County Environmental Health staff has been working with food service operators to help them come into compliance with the new regulations which include the implementation of an employee health policy, certification of key managers and employees by an approved food safety course, presentation of bare-hand contact with ready to eat foods, date marking of regulated foods to prevent the growth of Listeria monocytogenes and implementation of consumer advisories in relation to the consumption of raw or undercooked foods to name a few.

Regulations

View links to the new regulations and handouts for operators outlining the major changes. Please contact the Yadkin County Environmental Health office at (336) 849-7905 for more information.