Steven L. DeCamp
Community Development Agency Director
Daniel Chatigny
Interim Director of Environmental Health
COUNTY OF NEVADA
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DEPARTMENT
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ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH INFORMATIONAL BULLETIN
Assembly Bill No. 1252: Amendments to the California Retail Food Code
CalCode Section 113961: No Bare Hand Contact with Ready-To-Eat Food
Assembly Bill No. 1252 added section 113964 to the California Retail Food Code (CalCode), adopting the concept of
no bare hand contact with ready-to-eat food, effective on January 1, 2014. No Bare Hand Contact is the practice
of preventing direct contact with bare hands while handling ready-to-eat foods. Avoiding bare hand contact with foods
that do not require further cooking provides an added protection against contamination with microbiological pathogens
from the hands of ill food service employees.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is ready to eat (RTE) food?
RTE food is food in a form that is edible without additional preparation to achieve food safety. In other words, RTE
food is ready to be consumed, and does not require any additional preparation to make it safe to eat. RTE food
may be reheated for aesthetic, culinary, or other reasons. Food that should be cooked further, such as a rare
hamburger, or a sauce containing raw eggs, can also be considered ready-to-eat provided the consumer has been
advised of the potential risks.
2. What kinds of foods may not be touched with bare hands?
 Any food that will not be thoroughly cooked or reheated after it is prepared
 Any food that has already been cooked (e.g., a slice of pizza or a cooked ground meat patty).
 Prepared fresh fruits and vegetables served raw or cooked
 Salads and salad ingredients
 Fruit or vegetables for mixed drinks
 Garnishes such as lettuce, parsley, lemon wedges, potato chips or pickles
 Cold meats and sandwiches
 Raw sushi fish and sushi rice.
 Bread, toast, rolls and baked goods
 Ice served to the customer
 Dry fermented sausages, salt cured meats/poultry, dried meat/poultry products (e.g. jerky)
 Thermally processed low-acid foods packaged in hermetically sealed containers
3. What is so hazardous about "direct hand contact with ready to eat foods"?
The food that is ready to eat may accidentally become contaminated by very tiny particles from contaminated body
fluids, such as blood, pus, mucous, phlegm, fecal matter, urine, saliva, or sweat. These body fluids may also carry
harmful viruses, bacteria, or parasites. When food workers have not washed their hands thoroughly, and recently,
these “particles” are likely to be on their hands. When they touch the food with their bare hands, these particles
pass from their hands onto the food. Ready-to-eat food is not cooked again before it is eaten, so the harmful
germs cannot be killed and can cause a foodborne illness.
4. How can food workers prepare or serve ready-to-eat food without touching it with their bare hands?
Food employees can handle ready-to-eat food by using any of the following utensils to prepare and serve it without
touching it with bare hands:
 Tongs
 waxed paper
 forks and spoons
 scoops
 bakery and deli wraps
 spatulas
 single-use disposable gloves
 dispensing equipment
Updated: 7/9/2014
Printed on Recycled Paper
5. Are food service workers required to wear disposable sanitary gloves to handle ready-to-eat foods?
No. CalCode code does not require gloves to be worn, but does require that ready-to-eat foods be prepared and
served without bare hand contact. Wearing single-use disposable sanitary gloves is one of several acceptable
ways to comply with the regulation. If used, single-use gloves shall be used for only one task, such as working
with ready-to-eat food or with raw food of animal origin, used for no other purpose, and shall be discarded when
damaged or soiled, or when interruptions in the food handling occur.
6. When are food service workers required to wash their hands?
 When entering a food preparation area
 Before putting on clean, single-use gloves for working with food, and between glove changes
 Immediately before engaging in food preparation
 Before handling clean and single-use equipment and utensils
 Before dispensing, serving food, or handling clean tableware and serving utensils in the food service area.
 After using the toilet room
 After touching bare human body parts other than clean hands and clean, exposed portions of arms
 After coughing, sneezing, blowing the nose, using tobacco, eating, or drinking
 After caring for or handling service animals allowed in a food facility, or aquatic animals such as molluscan
shellfish or crustacean in display tanks.
 After handling soiled equipment or utensils.
 During food preparation, as often as necessary to remove any contaminants and to prevent crosscontamination when changing tasks.
 When changing tasks and switching between handling raw foods and working with ready-to-eat foods.
 After engaging in other activities that contaminate the hands or gloves.
7. What can I do with a ready-to-eat food item if it was touched with bare hands?
RTE food items that are touched with bare hands must be discarded unless you can heat the food item thoroughly
to the temperature required for cooking or reheating.
8. Where can I learn more about hand washing and bare hand contact with ready-to-eat foods?
Your local environmental health agency can answer questions or give you more information about hand washing,
bare hand contact with ready-to-eat foods, and additional important information on preventing foodborne illnesses.
9. What if the RTE food is to be prepared as an ingredient to be heat processed?
Bare hand contact is allowable if the food is immediately heat processed. This will reduce the likelihood of
contamination with Staphylococcus aureus due to bare hand contact and the production of the S. aureus toxin. It
will also decrease the likelihood of the food item in contact with bare hands being mistakenly included in a menu
item that is not subsequently heat treated.
10. Are food handlers required to use gloves to wrap leftover food that has been served to a consumer and that
the consumer desires to take home?
No. CalCode does not require gloves to be worn to wrap leftovers, but it does require that food that has been
served to a consumer and then wrapped or packaged at the direction of the consumer be handled only with utensils
and that these utensils are properly sanitized before reuse. In lieu of utensils, food workers can utilize single-use
gloves to wrap leftover food.
11. What must a food facility operator do if the facility wants to have the food employees conduct bare hand
contact with ready-to-eat foods?
In accordance with CalCode section 113961(f), food employees not serving a highly susceptible population (i.e., the
immune compromised, preschool aged children, or the elderly being served at a food facility, including, but not
limited to a kidney dialysis center, hospital, nursing home, senior center or a public/private school), may contact
exposed, ready-to-eat foods if certain practices are followed. The permit holder must obtain prior approval from
Environmental Health and make their written operating procedures available upon request. Written procedures must
include a description of the proposed procedures for bare hand contact, documentation of proper handwashing
practices, an employee health policy and documentation of completed required employee training.
Everyone is encouraged to read the amended California Retail Food Code:
http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB1252
Call Nevada County Environmental Health Department, 530-265-1222, if you have any questions or concerns regarding
these changes.
Updated: 7/9/2014
Printed on Recycled Paper