Off-Site Facilities & Real Estate
Food Brought onto University Property

Any organization that brings food onto the property of The University of Toledo shall be responsible for all injury or damage of any kind resulting from or arising out of the organization’s operations or services. In addition to the liability imposed upon the organization on account of personal injury (including death) or property damage suffered through the acts or omissions of the organization or its officers, employees, or agents, the organization assumes the obligation to hold the University harmless and to indemnify the University from every expense, liability, or payment including attorney’s fees, resulting from or arising out of or through injury (including death) to any person or persons and damage to property regardless of who may be the owner of the property, arising out of or suffered through any act or omission of the organization, or anyone directly or indirectly employed by or under the supervision of any of them in the prosecution of the operations, unless caused by the sole negligence of the University. The University will not be responsible in any manner for loss or damage to the organization’s stored supplies, materials, or equipment or for any of the organization's employees' personal belongings brought onto the premises.

Executive Summary
State of Ohio Uniform Food Safety Code
The following items are a summary of the State of Ohio Uniform Food Safety Code.  This is not a comprehensive list of all the rules included in the code; rather it provides a brief description of the contents of the code.  The University of Toledo provides you with this information to limit the liability exposure of the institution, the host organization, event coordinator and the individual supplying the food product.

I.       Person in Charge

• The permit (or food waiver) holder shall be the person in charge or designate a person in charge and shall insure the person in charge is present at the food establishment (or serving area) during all hours of operation
• The person in charge shall demonstrate to the regulatory authority knowledge of food borne disease prevention as outlined in this document and found in full at http://www.odh.ohio.gov/rules/final/f3717-1.aspx.

II.    HANDWASHING AND EMPLOYEE (FOOD HANDLER) HYGIENE

Employees (food handlers) must wash hands:

• After touching body parts other than hands and exposed parts of arms
• Using the restroom
• Handling service animals/aquatic animals
• Coughing, sneezing, using tobacco, eating, drinking,
• Handling soiled equipment or utensils
• Handling raw foods
• Prior to putting on single use gloves
• All employees (food handlers) that have direct contact with food (i.e. kitchen staff, waiters, waitresses, servers, etc.) may not wear fingernail polish or artificial fingernails when working with exposed food.
• Jewelry may not be worn on arms/hands; plain rings (i.e. wedding bands) are exempted.
• Employee’s (food handler’s) outer clothing must be clean.
• Employees (food handlers) must use a designated area to eat, drink, or use tobacco.
• All employees (food handlers) working with exposed foods must wear hair restraints such as hats, hair covering/nets.  This does not apply to employees (workers) who serve only beverages and wrapped or packaged foods.

III.  Hand sanitizer

• Hand Sanitizers must be FDA approved.  Hand sanitizer’s stations cannot be installed in substitutes for handwashing facilities.

IV.  FOOD

Food Quality and Identification

• Food must be obtained from an approved source.
• Bulk food containers shall be identified with the common name of the food.
• Fresh shellfish identification tags must be kept on file for a minimum of 90 days.

Food Temperatures

• A metal stem, dial-type thermometer with temperature ranging from 0 ºF to 220ºF must be provided to check hot and cold foods.
• Refrigerated potentially hazardous food must be 41°F or below.  Equipment that is already in place that cannot maintain 41°F will be allowed to hold between 41°F and 45°F for up to 7 years, then the equipment must be upgraded or replaced to maintain 41°F or below.
• Cooked potentially hazardous foods must be held hot at or above 140°F.
• All shell eggs, fish and pork must be cooked to an internal temperature of 145°F.  Ground meats must be cooked to an internal temperature of 155°F.  Stuffed meats, stuffed pastas and poultry must be cooked to an internal temperature of 165°F.
• Potentially hazardous foods must be reheated to 165°F in all parts.
• Processed food must be heated to 140°F for hot holding.
• Potentially hazardous foods must be cooled from 140°F to 70°F within 2 hours and from 70°F to 41°F or below within 4 hours.  If a potentially hazardous food is prepared from foods at room temperature (i.e. reconstituted foods, canned tuna), the TOTAL cooling time is 4 hours.  Methods for cooling include the use of shallow pans, separation of the product into small portions, use of an ice water bath, the addition of ice as an ingredient, and the use of rapid cooling equipment.
• A consumer advisory must be posted when foods are served raw, under cooked, or not otherwise processed to eliminate pathogens.

Food Storage and Handling

• Food employees and workers may not contact exposed, ready-to-eat food with their bare hands and must use utensils such as deli tissue, spatulas, tongs, single-use gloves, or equipment.
• Employees (food handlers) must minimize bare hand with exposed food that is not ready-to-eat.
• Food shall be properly stored and handled to prevent cross-contamination.
• Raw fruits and vegetables shall be thoroughly washed with cold, running water before being cut, combined with other ingredients, cooked, or served.
• Single-use gloves shall be used for only one task, and should only be worn over properly washed hands.
• All food and paper products must be stored 6 inches off the floor.
• Food on display shall be protected from contamination.
• Frozen potentially hazardous foods must be thawed by refrigeration, under cold, running water, in a microwave (if cooked immediately), or as part of the cooking process.

• Potentially hazardous foods that are prepared and held cold for more than 24 hours must be marked at the time of preparation to indicate the date by which the food shall be consumed.  Food must be dated for expiration 7 calendar days or less from the day of preparation if cooler maintaining 41°F or less.  Food must be dated for expiration 4 days or less from day of preparation if cooler is maintaining 41°F - 45°F.
• When a ready-to-eat potentially hazardous food is frozen, it must be consumed within 24 hours of thawing if it is not marked.
• Food must be marked to indicate the length of time before freezing that the product was refrigerated to ensure that the 7-day time frame is not exceeded.
• Potentially hazardous foods that are held on time only shall be marked to be discarded within 4 hours from the point in time when the food is removed from temperature control. (The ability to do this required pre-approval by the Health Department.)

V.     EQUIPMENT, UTENSILS, AND LINENS

• All food contact surfaces must be smooth and easily cleanable.
• Food temperature measuring devices (i.e. thermometers) must be accessible at all times.
• Fixed equipment must be sealed to the wall.
• A high temperature dish machine must have a final rinse of 180°F or higher to ensure a temperature of 160°F or higher at the utensil surface to sanitize food contact surfaces.
• Equipment must be stored clean and dry when not in use.
• Tableware must be wrapped to prevent contamination or set at the table after the customer is seated.
• Food equipment that is acceptable for use in food service operation must be approved by a recognized testing agency (such as N.S.F.).

VI.  WATER, PLUMBING AND WASTE

• Handwashing facilities must be located to allow convenient use by employees in food prep, dispensing and warewashing areas, and in or immediately adjacent to toilet rooms.  All Handwashing facilities must be supplied with soap and hand towels at all times.  Handwashing signs must be posted at all handsinks.
• At least one utility sink must be provided or conveniently located.
• Receptacle/waste handling units for refuse, recyclables, or materials containing food residue must be durable, cleanable, insect- and rodent-resistant, leak proof, and nonabsorbent.  Outdoor receptacles must also have tight fitting lids, doors, or covers.

VII.          PHYSICAL FACILITIES

• Materials for indoor door, wall, and ceiling surfaces shall be smooth, durable and easily cleanable in food prep areas.
• Light bulbs must be shielded, coated or otherwise shatter-resistant in areas where there is exposed food, or single service items.
• Insect control devices shall be designed to retain the insect within the device and cannot be located over a food prep area.
• Fire extinguishers must be available if cooking is being done.
• A handwashing sink with soap and paper towel dispensers must be provided.
• Propane gas tanks must be tightly secured to prevent tipping.

VIII.       POISONOUS OR TOXIC MATERIALS

• Working containers (i.e. spray bottles) used for storing poisonous or toxic materials such as cleaners and sanitizers taken from bulk supplies shall be clearly identified with the common name.
• Toxic materials must be stored so that they cannot contaminate food, equipment, utensils, and single service/single use articles.

IX.             PROPER LABELING OF COTTAGE FOOD PRODUCTS
The following guidelines are required by law and administered by the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department for a cottage food operation.

A.    Definitions

1.      A cottage food product includes; bakery products, jams, jellies, candy, and fruit butters that are produced in the primary residence where only one/oven stove are used for the preparation (non commercial stove/oven).

2.      Cottage food products do not include any potentially hazardous food products, such as; pumpkin pie, cream pie, cheese cakes, low acid canned foods, puddings, raw or cooked animal products, cooked vegetable or garlic in oil.

3.      A “Cottage Food Production Operation” is required to label all of their food products and include the following information on the label of each unit of food offered or distributed for sale:

a)      The name and address of the business of the “Cottage Food Production Operation”;

b)      The name of the food product;

c)      The ingredients of the food product, in descending order of predominance by weight;

d)     The net weight or net volume of the food product;

e)      The following statement in ten-point type: “This Product is Home Produced.”
What Does the Statement “This Product is Home Produced” Mean?
The statement means that the food product was produced in a private home that is not subject to inspection by a food regulatory authority.

f)       NOTE: If a nutritional claim is made (i.e. low fat, salt free, etc.) federal labeling requirements must be met.  Specific food labeling information is available at the ODA web site: www.state.oh.us/agr/labelingrequirements.htm

B.     Example of Health Department required labeling:

Biscotti

Ingredients: Enriched Wheat Flour (Unbleached Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Sugar, Eggs, Butter, Almonds, Walnuts, Corn Starch, Salt.)

“This Product is Home Produced”

Approx. Net Wt.:

Name of Individual, City, State and Zip

You are provided with the above information to limit the liability exposure of the institution, the host organization, event coordinator and the individual supplying the food product.