[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of
Northampton as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
[Adopted 7-18-1974 by Ord. No. 874 (Ch. 10, Part 1, of the
1993 Code of Ordinances)]
A.
The Board of Health of the Borough of Northampton, in determining
what conditions may constitute a nuisance in fact, shall consider
the following:
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Anything that is set up, maintained or continued so as to be
deleterious to the health, safety or welfare of any person or persons
within the Borough of Northampton, whatever is dangerous to human
life or health, whatever renders air, food, water or other drink unwholesome,
and whatever building or part thereof is unsafe, unsanitary, overcrowded
or not provided with adequate means of ingress or egress, or is not
sufficiently ventilated, sewered, drained, cleaned, lighted or supported
either by its own construction or connection, may be declared a nuisance
and abatable as such as provided by law.
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B.
It is not the intention of this article to declare anything or condition
as a nuisance per se, but it is to be used as a criterion in determining
what may be a nuisance in fact.
In the event that the Board of Health, after due consideration
of the above criteria and consideration of the health rules and laws
of the state and of the Borough, whenever any condition or place in
the Borough is found by the Board to be a nuisance or a menace to
the health of the people of the Borough, it shall, as provided by
law:
A.
Issue a written order of abatement, directed to the owner or agent
of the owner of the premises, stating that the conditions specified
therein constitute a nuisance or a menace to the health, and ordering
an abatement thereof within such time as may be specified by the Board
in such order.
B.
In case such order of abatement is not obeyed within the time specified
therein, the Board shall thereupon issue a further written order to
the Health Officer or Inspector, directing him to remove or abate
the same; which order shall be executed by him and his subordinates
and workmen, and the expense thereof, with a penalty of 10% added
thereto shall be recoverable from the owner, or his agent, of the
premises upon or from which the nuisance or menace to health is abated
or removed, in the manner as provided by law.
C.
The Board may proceed to enforce such other remedy or inflict such
penalty as may be specifically provided by ordinance.
[Adopted 3-12-1981 by Ord. No. 938 (Ch. 10, Part 2, of the
1993 Code of Ordinances)]
A.
Administration of health laws. The health laws of the Borough of
Northampton shall be under the supervision of the Board of Health.
B.
Office of Health Officer and Health Inspector. The Health Officer
and Health Inspector shall enforce the health laws and shall be appointed
by Borough Council. The Health Officer shall be a medical doctor or
other person meeting the qualifications of the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection for designation as a Health Officer. The
Health Inspector shall be a person qualified to enforce the health
laws as determined by Borough Council. The Health Officer and Health
Inspector shall have the power and it should be their duty to enforce
the Laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania together with the rules
and regulations of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
and to make and enforce such additional rules and regulations as permitted
them by law as well as any rules and regulations now and hereafter
adopted by the Council of the Borough of Northampton. The Health Inspector
shall be under the direct supervision of the Health Officer.
[Amended 7-21-1988 by Ord. No. 1006; 7-15-1993 by Ord. No. 1048]
A.
EMPLOYEE
FOOD
HEALTH OFFICER and HEALTH INSPECTOR
INTINERANT RESTAURANT
MEAT and MEAT FOOD PRODUCTS
PERSON
RESTAURANT
Definitions. For the purpose of this article, the following terms,
phrases, words and their derivation shall have the meaning given herein.
When not inconsistent with the content, words used in the present
tense include the future, words used in the plural number include
the singular number, and words used in the singular number include
the plural number. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely
directive. The following definitions shall apply in the interpretation
and enforcement of this article:
Any person who handles food or drink during preparation or
serving, or who comes in contact with any eating or cooking utensils,
or who is employed in a room in which food or drink is prepared or
served.
Includes all articles used for food, drink, confectionery
or condiment, whether simple, mixed or compound and all substances
or ingredients used in the preparation thereof.
The persons appointed by Borough Council to enforce the health
regulations.
One operating for a temporary period of not more than one
week in connection with a fair, carnival, circus, public exhibition
or other similar gathering.
Any food for human consumption of which the flesh of any
organ of any cattle, calves, sheep, swine, goats, horses or mules,
forms the whole or a constituent part. It shall not include poultry
or seafood of any sort.
Includes any person, firm, partnership, corporation or association.
Any restaurant, coffee shop, grocery store, cafeteria, short-order
cafe, luncheonette, tavern, sandwich stand, drugstore and soda fountain
serving food, and all other eating or drinking establishments, as
well as kitchens or other places in which food or drink is prepared
for sale elsewhere.
B.
Permits and certificates required; posting and location. It shall
be unlawful for any person to operate a restaurant in the Borough
of Northampton who does not possess a nonrevoked permit from the Health
Inspector. Such permit shall be posted in a conspicuous place. Only
persons who comply with the requirements of this article shall be
entitled to receive and retain such a permit. Any person conducting
an itinerant restaurant shall also be required to secure a permit.
Such a permit may be temporarily suspended by the Health Inspector
upon the violation by the holder of any of the terms of this article,
or revoked after an opportunity for a hearing by the Health Officer
upon serious or repeated violations. It shall be unlawful for any
employee to handle food or drink during preparation or serving, to
come in contact with any eating or drinking utensils, or to be employed
in a room in which food or drink is prepared or served without first
acquiring the health certificate issued by the Health Inspector in
accordance with the provisions of the Public Eating and Drinking Act
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
C.
Inspection of restaurants. At least once in six months, the Health
Officer and/or Health Inspector shall inspect every restaurant located
within the Borough of Northampton, and if the Health Officer and/or
Health Inspector discovers a violation of any item on sanitation,
he shall make a second inspection after the lapse of such time as
he deems necessary for the defect to be remedied, and the second inspection
shall be used in determining compliance with abating the defect in
sanitation. Any violation of the same item on sanitation on such second
inspection shall call for immediate suspension of permit. For reinstatement
of license, as a result of a violation, a fee, as established from
time to time by resolution of Borough Council, shall be charged.
D.
Certificate, license and inspection fee.
(1)
All owners or operators of restaurants or other food establishments
shall pay to the Borough of Northampton an annual license and inspection
fee, as established from time to time by resolution of Borough Council,
for each restaurant or other food establishment inspected in accordance
with the provisions of this article.
(2)
Itinerant restaurants shall be required to pay a daily fee, as established
from time to time by resolution of Borough Council, for a temporary
license.
(3)
Nonprofit organizations shall be waived from payment of license and
inspection fees.
E.
Enforcement interpretation. This article shall be enforced by the
Health Officer and Health Inspector in accordance with the interpretations
thereof contained in the United States Public Health Service Code
regulating and controlling eating and drinking establishments; provided,
however, that should any provision, item or part thereof fail to meet
the minimum requirements of state law, the requirements of said state
law shall apply only to that provision, item, or part thereof so affected.
[Amended 2-16-1989 by Ord. No. 1013]
A.
Employees with diseases.
(1)
No employee with any disease in a communicable form or who is a carrier
of such disease, shall work in any public eating or drinking place
in any capacity which brings him into contact with the production,
handling, storage or transportation of food or equipment used in public
eating or drinking places.
(2)
No proprietor shall employ in any such capacity any such person,
or any person suspected of having any disease in a communicable form,
or of being a carrier of such disease.
(3)
Any employee who has a discharging or infected wound, sore or lesion
on hands, arms or any exposed portion of the body, shall be excluded
from those operations which will bring him into contact with food,
beverages, utensils or equipment used in public eating or drinking
places.
B.
Control of infectious employees. When suspicion arises as to the
possibility of transmission of infection from any employee, the licensor
shall be authorized to require any or all of the following measures:
(1)
The immediate exclusion of the employee from the eating or drinking
place.
(2)
The immediate closing of the eating or drinking place concerned until,
in the opinion of the licensor, no further danger of disease outbreaks
exists.
(3)
Restriction of the services of the employee to some area of work
where there would be no danger of transmitting disease.
(4)
Adequate medical examinations of the employee and his associates,
with such laboratory examinations as may be necessary.
C.
Cleanliness.
(1)
All employees shall wear clean outer garments, maintain a high degree
of personal cleanliness and conform to hygienic practices while on
duty. They shall wash their hands thoroughly in an approved hand-washing
facility before starting work, and as often as may be necessary to
remove soil and contamination. No employee shall resume work after
visiting the toilet room without washing his hands with soap and warm
water.
(2)
Hair nets, caps or other effective hair covering shall be used by
employees engaged in the preparation and service of food or washing
of utensils and equipment to keep hair from food and food-contact
surfaces.
(3)
Persons engaged in the preparation, handling or service of food shall
not use tobacco in any form while in equipment and utensil washing,
food preparation or food serving areas. However, designated locations
in such areas may be approved by the licensor for smoking, where no
contamination hazards will result.
A.
Inspection and approval of meat and meat food products. No meat or
meat food products shall be offered for sale, displayed, sold or stored
within the Borough of Northampton unless such products have first
been inspected and passed by either an authorized agent of the United
States Department of Agriculture, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
or the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection; provided
that the Board of Health may, in its discretion, permit the sale of
meat or meat food products which have been inspected and passed by
a duly authorized agent of the county commissioners of any county
who is a qualified and licensed veterinarian wherein the procedure
followed in conducting inspections, including the facilities for making
the same, the requirements with respect to the sanitation of the establishment
and the marking, branding, or identifying of meat or meat food products,
shall conform with the regulations of the Department of Agriculture
of the United States or the Department of Agriculture of this commonwealth.
B.
Meat and meat food products to be marked with inspection legend.
No meat or meat food products shall be offered for sale, displayed,
sold, or stored in the Borough of Northampton unless the same shall
be marked in a clear and legible manner with the official meat inspection
legend designated by the United States Department of Agriculture,
or by the official meat inspection legend designated by the Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture, or by an official meat inspection legend
approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection,
or by an official meat inspection legend approved by the Board of
Health.
C.
Disposal of unfit meat and meat food products. If any meat or meat
food products inspected and passed as above set forth are subsequently
found by an agent of the United States Department of Agriculture,
or of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, or of the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection, or by a duly authorized agent
of the county commissioners of any county who is a qualified and licensed
veterinarian, to have spoiled or to have likewise become unfit for
human consumption since said original inspection, it shall not be
offered for sale, sold, displayed, or stored within the Borough, but
shall be immediately disposed of.
D.
Inspection of establishments. Any slaughtering, meat canning, curing,
smoking, salting, packing, rendering, or other similar establishment
where meat or meat food products are prepared for sale in the Borough
of Northampton, regardless of whether such establishment is located
within the Borough, shall be subject to inspection by the Board of
Health. No meat or meat food product prepared in any slaughtering,
meat canning, curing, smoking, salting, packing, rendering, or other
similar establishment where meat or meat food products are prepared,
refusing the right of inspection stored in the Borough of Northampton.
[Amended 7-15-1993 by Ord. No. 1048]
A.
Fines and imprisonment. Any person or persons who shall violate any
provision of this article shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced
to pay a fine of not less than $25, nor more than $1,000 and costs
of prosecution. Upon each subsequent conviction, he shall be fined
not less than $50, nor more than $1,000 and costs of prosecution,
and, in default of payment of such fine and costs, shall be sentenced
to a term of imprisonment for a period of not more than 30 days.
B.
Additional penalties. If after being fined, any proprietor, owner,
manager, or operator of any business or any employer in the Borough
of Northampton, who shall permit the handling of food stuffs or drink
intended for public consumption by any individual who has not been
examined under the provisions of the rules and regulations for food
handlers shall have his health certificate suspended and/or revoked.
