Processed Food Registration Requirements

	Food Labels (pdf) Food GMPs (pdf) Food Sanitation Act (pdf)   Processed Food Manufacturer, Packager, Holder Registration Request a Processed Food Application Here... Processed Food Manufacturer, Packager, Holder Registration Program

The Department of Health Services (DHS) has been inspecting California processed food firms since 1907 to ensure the safety of the food supply in California. In 1986, legislation was passed requiring any person engaged in the manufacturing, packing, labeling, or holding (warehousing) of processed food in the State of California to register annually with the Department of Health Services (DHS), Food and Drug Branch (FDB). The registration acts as a firm’s basic health permit, to legally manufacture or warehouse food at the wholesale level. Currently, the registration fee is set based on the size of the facility, number of employees, and the activities conducted at the facility (manufacturing or warehousing). The registration fees pay for statutorily mandated inspections of food facilities performed by FDB investigators. Investigators examine a firm’s complete production and quality assurance system including such areas as: qualifications of responsible personnel; use of food additives, color additives, preservatives, and other chemicals; control of critical production parameters; and methods of product storage, labeling, and advertising. The registration fees are received by DHS and deposited into a special fund account used solely by FDB to support the Food Safety Inspection Program. 

Every person engaged in the State of California in the manufacturing, packing, labeling, or holding (warehousing) of processed food products, must register and pay the appropriate fees, except for firms exclusively conducting activities under the authority of one of the licenses listed below or facilities operated exclusively for charitable purposes. Registered facilities that possess a valid license, registration, or certification issued by FDB to bottle, vend, haul, or process water; to operate a cold storage facility, frozen food locker plant, or low acid cannery; to process olive oil or pet food; or to operate as a shellfish dealer; are only required to pay the single highest license, registration, or certificate fee. This exemption does not apply to cannery product release fees or organic food registration fees. 

The Department is required to inspect all new firms and ensure compliance with applicable statutes and regulations before issuing a new registration. The pre-registration inspection is usually scheduled within 30 to 60 days of the Department’s receipt of the registration application. Firms that have compliance problems are required to pay a $100 per hour fee for each additional reinspection required to verify compliance. Failure to obtain or renew a Processed Food Registration while manufacturing, repacking or warehousing food, is a crime that could lead to arrest, civil penalties, and / or the embargo of all food products at the unregistered establishment. 

Question and Answers:  

Question: Who is required to register with FDB?  

Answer: Except for the food related activities listed below, every person engaged in the State of California in the manufacturing, packing, labeling, or holding (warehousing) of processed food products, must register with FDB. A person is not required to register a facility if their food related activities are limited exclusively to any of the following: 

1. Producing, packing, labeling, or holding (warehousing) exclusively agricultural food products in their raw or natural state, including fruits or vegetables that are only washed, colored, or otherwise treated in their unpeeled natural form.  

2.Operating a low acid food cannery, bottled water facility, water vending machine, pet food manufacturing facility, cold storage facility, or frozen food locker plant, under a valid license issued by FDB.  

3.Operating a retail only food facility, (e.g., restaurant or grocery store) where food is sold directly to the consumer under a valid permit issued by a local health department.  

4. Operating a facility that packs, processes, or distributes only shellfish (clams, mussels, oysters) under a valid certificate issued by FDB.  

5. Operating exclusively under a valid Winegrower’s license or Wine Blender’s license issued by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.  

6. Processing only milk and dairy products or meat and poultry products under a valid license issued by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.  

7. Temporarily holding processed foods for up to 7 days for further transport if the foods are not potentially hazardous foods, as defined in Section 110005 of the Health and Safety Code.  

Question: What does wholesale mean?  

Answer: Wholesale means manufacturing, packing, labeling, or holding processed food products to be sold or delivered to a party other than the ultimate consumer.This includes the manufacture or warehousing of products at a centralized facility, for distribution to a chain of stores or restaurants, where the products will ultimately be sold to consumer.  

Question: What does manufacture mean?  

Answer: Manufacture means the preparation, compounding, propagation, processing, or fabrication of any food. The term manufacture includes repacking, or otherwise changing the container, wrapper, or label of any food in furtherance of the distribution of the food. The term does not include repacking from a bulk container by a retailer at the time of sale at the request of its ultimate consumer.  

Question: What does holding (warehousing) mean?  

Answer: Holding means the storage of processed food products in a facility for the furtherance of distribution to the consumer. It does not include temporarily storing food that can be safely stored at ambient temperature and held for up to 7 days for further transport.  

Question: What is the $100 Food Safety Fee?  

Answer: Effective January 1, 1998, legislation established a Food Safety Education and Training program which provides food safety education and training for the processed food industry and assistance in the prevention of contamination of food products. The program is supported exclusively by the $100 Food Safety Fee, which is deposited into a special fund account. Question: Who is required to pay the $100 Food Safety Fee? Answer: Except for the exemptions shown below, the law requires all California processed food registrants to pay the $100 Food Safety Fee at the same time their Processed Food Registration is due.  

Exemptions from Food Safety Fee:  

1. Firms involved exclusively in flour milling, dried bean processing, or the drying or milling of rice, are exempt from paying the $100 Food Safety Fee.

2. Small firms with gross annual wholesale revenues from their registered processed food business of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) or less are exempt from paying the Food Safety Fee. Firms requesting exemption from paying the $100 Food Safety Fee must submit a "Food Safety Fee Exemption Request" form to FDB with their new Processed Food Registration application and re-submit a request form each year when they renew their registration. To obtain a Food Safety Fee Exemption Request form, please contact FDB’s Food Registration Desk at (916) 650-6500. 

Question: What if a firm processes or handles Organic processed food products for wholesale? 

Answer: Every processor or handler of processed food in California that is sold as organic" (except for processed meat, fowl, or dairy products) is required to register annually with FDB under the Organic Processed Product Registration program and pay a registration fee, based on the annual gross sales of organic foods. A food is sold as organic; if the food, or one or more of its ingredients, is claimed to be organic. You may obtain a copy of the Organic Processed Product Registration Application on this website at: http://www.dhs.ca.gov/ps/fdb/HTML/General/fdbapps.htm 

 

 

Rev 10/2004