How do I know what food safety laws apply to my restaurant?
After a lot of planning and hard work, you’ve settled on a location, name and a menu for your restaurant. Congratulations! But you may be wondering, “now what?” One of the most important tasks in setting your restaurant up for success is making sure you’re on top of food safety. Nothing will detract from your restaurants’ success more than making people sick. Just ask the owner of the now-shuddered all-you-can-eat shrimp buffet that used to be next door!
So how do you find out what food safety rules and regulations you need to follow? Wading through that swamp can be a challenge for sure! But know this – regulation of restaurants and other retail food establishments is generally handled at the state and local level – so you should start there first.
Normally food safety laws are set at the state level, such as through the state department of health or the equivalent in your state. Inspections, however, are usually conducted by city or county...
