Risk levels of food service operations and retail
food establishments (OAC 3701-21-02.3 and OAC 901:3-4-05)
The licensor shall determine the risk level based on
the highest risk level activity of the food service operation in accordance
with the following criteria:
-
Risk level I poses potential risk to the public in terms of sanitation,
food labeling, sources of food, storage practices, or expiration dates.
Examples of risk level I activities include, but are not limited
to, an operation that offers for sale or sells:
1.
Coffee, self-service fountain drinks, prepackaged non-potentially
hazardous beverages;
2.
Pre-packaged refrigerated or frozen potentially hazardous foods;
3.
Pre-packaged non-potentially hazardous foods;
4.
Baby food or formula
-
Risk level II poses a higher potential risk to the public than risk
level I because of hand contact or employee health concerns but minimal
possibility of pathogenic growth exists
Examples of risk level I activities include, but are not limited
to:
1.
Handling, heat treating, or preparing non-potentially hazardous food;
2.
Holding for sale or serving potentially hazardous food at the same
proper holding temperature at which it was received; or
3.
Heating individually packaged, commercially processed potentially
hazardous foods for immediate service.
-
Risk level III poses a higher potential risk to the public than risk
level II because of the following concerns: proper cooking temperatures,
proper cooling procedures, proper holding temperatures, contamination
issues or improper heat treatment in association with longer holding
times before consumption, or processing a raw food product requiring
bacterial load reduction procedures in order to sell it as ready-to-eat.
Examples of risk level III activities include, but are not
limited to:
1.
Handling, cutting, or grinding raw meat products;
2.
Cutting or slicing ready-to-eat meats and cheeses;
3.
Assembling or cooking potentially hazardous food that is immediately
served, held hot or cold, or cooled;
4.
Operating a heat treatment dispensing freezer;
5.
Reheating in individual portions only; or
6.
Heating of a product from an intact hermetically sealed package and
holding it hot.
-
Risk level IV poses a higher potential risk to the public than risk
level III because of concerns associated with: handling or preparing
food using a procedure with several preparation steps that include
reheating of a product or ingredient of a product where multiple
temperature controls are needed to preclude bacterial growth; offering
as ready –to-eat a raw potentially hazardous meat, poultry product,
fish, or shellfish or a food with these raw potentially hazardous items
as ingredients; using freezing as a means to achieve parasite
destruction; serving a primarily high risk clientele including immuno-compromised
or elderly individuals in a facility that provides either health care or
assisted living; or using time in lieu of temperature as a public health
control for potentially hazardous food or performs a food handling
process that is not addressed, deviates, or otherwise requires a
variance for the process according to rules adopted pursuant to ORC
3717.05. Examples of risk level
IV activities include, but are not limited to:
1.
Reheating bulk quantities of leftover potentially hazardous food more
than once every seven days; or
2. Caterers or other similar food
service operations that transport potentially
hazardous food.
