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Specialized Processing

Specialized Processing

This page is a resource for local health department Food Service Programs for identifying and evaluating Specialized Processing, as defined by the Food Code, sections 3-502.11 Variance Requirement and 3-502.12 Reduced Oxygen Packaging (ROP) Without a Variance, Criteria.

3-502.11 Variance Requirement

  • Jarred, pickled vegetables for sale
    A food establishment shall obtain a variance and submit a HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) plan for review and prior approval for the following specialized processes:

     

    • Smoking for preservation
    • Curing food
    • Using food additives as preservation or to render food not time/temperature controlled for safety
    • Packaging food using a reduced oxygen packaging method (unless following the criteria of 3-502.12)
    • Operating a molluscan shellfish tank
    • Custom Processing meat for personal use
    • Sprouting beans or seeds
    • Another method determined by regulatory authority to require variance

3-502.12 ROP Without a Variance, Criteria

  • Several cuts of meat that are vaccuum packed in a reduced oxygen environment

    3-502.12 ROP Without a Variance, Criteria: Reduced oxygen packaging (ROP) includes vacuum packaging, modified or controlled atmosphere packaging, cook- chill packaging, or sous vide packaging. A food establishment that packages food in reduced oxygen packaging shall have a HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) plan that follows the Food Code sections applicable to their specific process. Options detailed in this Food Code section are:

    • The refrigerated, packaged food meets at least one of the following criteria:
      • Aw (water activity) of 0.91 or less
      • pH of 4.6 or less
      • Meat or poultry cured at a USDA plant
      • Raw meat, raw poultry, raw vegetables (high level of competing organisms)
    • Fish that is frozen before, during, and after packaging
    • Using a Cook-Chill or Sous Vide process
    • Commercially made hard cheeses, pasteurized process cheese, or semisoft cheeses

Specialized Processing resources: