Caroline Menjivar

Existing law, the California Retail Food Code, establishes uniform health and sanitation standards for, and provides for regulation by the State Department of Public Health of, retail food facilities, and requires local health agencies to enforce those provisions. Existing law makes a person who violates a provision of the code guilty of a misdemeanor.

Existing law requires the person in charge of a food facility to have adequate knowledge of major food allergens, as defined, foods identified as major food allergens, and the symptoms that a major food allergen could cause in a sensitive individual who has an allergic reaction and to educate food facility employees regarding those matters. Existing law requires a food handler to obtain a food handler card from a specified training provider after completing a food handler training course and examination that covers, among other things, major food allergens and symptoms of allergic reactions. 

This bill would add sesame to the list of major food allergens.

Existing law, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, requires certain restaurants and similar retail food establishments that are part of a chain with 20 or more locations doing business under the same name and offering for sale substantially the same menu items to disclose nutrient content information, as specified.

This bill, commencing July 1, 2026, would require a food facility that is subject to the federal disclosure provisions for nutrient content information to provide written notification of the major food allergens that the food facility knows or reasonably should know are contained as an ingredient in each menu item, either directly on its menu or in a digital format, as specified. The bill would specify that its provisions requiring a food facility to provide the above-described notifications do not apply to compact mobile food operations or nonpermanent food facilities.

 By expanding the scope of existing crimes and by imposing new duties on local health officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.