The terms "food" and "foodstuffs," as used in this chapter,
shall be construed to include ice cream, bakery products, soda water
and soft beverages, and all articles of fruits, vegetables, groceries
meats, fish and shellfish, butter, lard, cheese and all or any articles
sold or offered for sale for human consumption.
There shall be an officer of the city known as the "Sanitary
Inspector," who shall be a person experienced in the care and preservation
of food and foodstuffs and in judging the quality thereof.
On the second Tuesday in November following the biennial city
election, the Council shall appoint a suitable person to be Sanitary
Inspector and to serve for the term of two years from the date of
his appointment or until another is appointed in his place, unless
he is removed for cause by the Council.
Any vacancy in the office of Sanitary Inspector shall be filled
by the Council whenever such vacancy occurs.
The Sanitary Inspector may, at any time, inspect and examine
all food and foodstuffs sold or offered for sale in the city, and
he may so inspect and examine all places wherein such food and foodstuffs
are kept, displayed, stored, handled, sold or produced, including
restaurants, lunchrooms, hotels and public eating places, ice-cream
parlors, confectioneries, and all other establishments and places
wherein any such article is kept, sold or offered for sale. He may
examine and inspect all animals, whether live or dead, which are intended
to be sold for human consumption in the city. Such inspections may
be made whether such places, animals, food or foodstuffs are within
the limits of the city or elsewhere. The Sanitary Inspector may prohibit
the sale within the limits of the city of any food or foodstuffs found
by him to be in a condition unfit for human consumption.
[Amended 5-12-1964]
At least 10 days prior to the opening, or change of ownership,
of a food-handling establishment in the City of Norwalk, a written
application for a license must be filed with the Director of Health.
The Sanitary Inspector shall act as an assistant to the Health
Officer of the city in promoting sanitation in the city and he
shall report to the Health Officer, in writing, his findings and doings
at least once in each month, or oftener if required by the Health
Officer.
The Sanitary Inspector shall receive such salary as the Council
shall fix and determine which salary shall be paid semimonthly.
The Mayor, with the approval of the Common Council, shall appoint
a Meat Inspector of the city to inspect the slaughtering of all cattle,
calves, sheep, swine and goats in the slaughterhouses located in the
city.
The Meat Inspector shall inspect all cattle, calves, sheep,
swine or goats, prior to being slaughtered and after being slaughtered,
under the rules and regulations of the state.
The Meat Inspector shall collect fees for all animals inspected
by him as follows: cattle, $1 apiece, calves, $0.25 apiece; sheep,
swine and goats, $0.50 apiece.
The Meat Inspector shall report to the Council of the City once
a month, and shall turn the fees so collected by him over to the City
Treasurer of the city.
It shall be the duty of the Meat Inspector to inspect the slaughterhouses
in the city and to see whether such places are clean and sanitary.
If in his opinion conditions are such as to render meat from such
places unfit for food, he shall refuse to allow slaughtering in such
places.
The Board of Health shall adopt and promulgate such rules and regulations as are necessary to carry into effect the provisions of §§
45-9 to
45-12 of this code.
Except during the process of sale or while in the act of loading
vehicles, no cut meat, fish, shucked shellfish, dried or preserved
fruits, dates, figs, cut fruits, cut melons, cracked nuts, and meats,
popped corn, candies confectionery or bakers' products, which are
intended for sale for human food, shall be conveyed from place to
place, or kept in an open window or doorway, or kept outside of a
building or in any public or private way of the city, unless covered
with clean material, and so placed as to be protected from dust, flies
and animals.
No person within the city shall offer or display for sale on
the outside of any store or building any vegetables, fruit or other
food, unless the same when and while so offered or displayed shall
be placed at least two feet above the surface of the sidewalk or of
the ground and on suitable racks or stands.
Every person being the occupant or lessee of any room, stall,
building or other place, and every person being the owner or person
in charge of any stand, case, rack, bench, pushcart or other vehicle,
where or from which human food is kept, stored, sold or offered for
sale, shall maintain such room, stall, building or other place, stand,
case, rack, bench, pushcart or other vehicle, and its appurtenances
in a clean and wholesome condition.
All persons while engaged in the handling of articles of food
in any room, stall, building or other place, as mentioned in the preceding
section, shall wear clean outer garments, and shall be free from contagious
or infectious disease.
No room in which articles of food are prepared, kept, stored,
sold or offered for sale shall be used for domestic purposes or open
directly into any room so used, unless the conditions of such room
are approved by the Board of Health. In no room shall there be a water
closet unless the same is approved by the Board of Health. All shops
or stores used for the sale of articles of food shall be equipped
with such lavatory accommodations as the Board of Health may order
and approve.
The use of unclean paper for the wrapping of articles of food
is prohibited.
Every peddler of foodstuffs from wagons, carts or other vehicles, in
addition to the clean covering provided for in this chapter, shall
keep in his wagon or cart a watertight and sufficient receptacle for
the wastes of his business, and such wastes shall be so disposed of
as not to cause a nuisance.