Food Service Operations & Retail Food Establishments
(3701-21-02.3)
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:
(A) Risk level I poses potential risks 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; or
(4) Baby food or formula.
A “food delivery sales operation” as defined in 3717.01 (H) of the Revised Code shall be classified as risk level I.
(B) 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 II 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.
(C) 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.
(D) 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 includes 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. 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.
