[Adopted 4-16-1990 by Ord. No. 534-90]
The provisions of this article are adopted pursuant to the authority
granted by N.J.S.A. 40:52-1 et seq. and shall be construed broadly
to the extent permitted by said statutes to give effect to the provisions
hereof.
No provision hereof shall be construed so as to impose an unlawful
burden upon interstate commerce or any activity of the government
of the United States nor of this state or any subdivision thereof.
The Common Council finds and determines as follows:
A. During the recent past, the food service industry has grown in size
and complexity, and there is every indication that food service patterns
will continue to change and modify in the years to come.
B. These changing patterns make it more essential that all agencies
involved in the monitoring of the food service industry work together
to the fullest extent possible to assure compliance with accepted
minimum standards of food safety.
C. A retail food establishment licensing program is essential to an
effective program of public health surveillance pursuant to the Recognized
Public Health Activities and Minimum Standards of Performance for
Local Boards of Health in New Jersey.
D. A proper licensing system will enable the Hunterdon County Division
of Public Health Services to:
(1) Increase assurance of adherence to effective standards of safe food-handling
practice.
(2) Improve the ability of the Hunterdon County Division of Public Health
Services to react in a timely manner to public health illnesses or
other threats to the public health.
(3) Identify persistent Sanitary Code violators for corrective public
health action via education or other means.
(4) Provide complete rather than partial knowledge of the whereabouts
and nature of food-handling operations in the Borough.
(5) Enable the Borough to generate revenue sufficient to cover inspection
and administrative costs.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
FOOD
Any raw, cooked or processed edible substance, water, ice,
beverage or ingredient used or intended for use or for sale, in whole
or in part, for human consumption.
LAW
Any federal, state and local statutes, ordinances and regulations.
MOBILE RETAIL FOOD ESTABLISHMENT
Any movable restaurant, truck, trailer, van, cart or bicycle
or other movable unit, including hand-carried, portable containers,
in or on which food or beverage is transported, stored or prepared
for retail sale or given away at temporary locations.
NONPROFIT/COMMUNITY SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS
Those organizations which are exempted from tax by the United
States Internal Revenue Service and which present to the Hunterdon
County Division of Public Health Services a tax exemption number which
has been issued to them by that federal agency.
PERSON
An organization, corporation, unincorporated association,
individual person, any group of two or more persons or any other entity,
excluding nonprofit/community service organizations.
RETAIL FOOD ESTABLISHMENT
Any fixed or mobile restaurant; coffee shop; cafeteria; short-order
cafe; luncheonette; grill; tearoom; sandwich shop; soda fountain;
tavern; bar; cocktail lounge; nightclub; roadside stand; industrial
eating establishment; private, public or nonprofit organization, institution
or group preparing, storing or serving food; catering kitchen; commissary;
box-lunch establishment; retail bakery; meat market; delicatessen;
grocery store; or public food market; or any similar place in which
food or drink is prepared for retail sale or service on the premises
or elsewhere; and any other retail eating or drinking establishment
or operation where food is served, handled or provided for the public
with or without charge, except that agricultural markets, covered-dish
suppers or similar types of church or nonprofit-type institution meal
services shall meet the special provisions of N.J.A.C. 8:24-8; provided,
further, that any food and beverage vending machine shall meet the
requirements of N.J.A.C. 8:24-1.1 et seq.
TEMPORARY RETAIL FOOD ESTABLISHMENT
Any retail food establishment which operates at a fixed location
for a temporary period of time in connection with a fair, carnival,
circus, public exhibition or similar transitory gathering, including
church suppers, picnics or similar organizational meetings and mobile
retail food establishments, as well as agricultural markets.
No temporary food stand, temporary food concession, permanent
food establishment, mobile retail food establishment, retail food
establishment or temporary retail food establishment shall be operated
by any person within the Borough of Milford unless the same shall
have first obtained a license therefor from the Hunterdon County Division
of Public Health Services. A separate license shall be required for
each separate unit.
No person shall be granted a license for any activity set forth in §
99-6 of this article until and unless he shall present to the Clerk of the Hunterdon County Division of Public Health Services a fully completed application and an inspection certificate issued by the Hunterdon County Division of Public Health Services which is both current and indicates that the same has been inspected and found to be satisfactory as provided in Chapter XII of the State Sanitary Code of New Jersey, which is hereby adopted and incorporated herein by reference as if set forth fully and at length herein.
Upon receipt of a completed application, together with all fees
and inspection reports, the Clerk of the Hunterdon County Division
of Public Health Services shall issue the license within 10 business
days of the date of receipt, unless he shall ascertain from the information
received that the license should not be issued. In that event, the
Clerk shall so advise the applicant within the three-business-day
period of that fact, and no license shall issue thereafter unless
the applicant shall satisfy the Clerk of the Hunterdon County Division
of Public Health Services or unless the Hunterdon County Division
of Public Health Services shall reverse the action of the Clerk upon
an appeal. If the Clerk shall determine that an application is incomplete,
he shall forthwith advise the applicant of the reason for such determination,
who may, without payment of an additional fee, provide the required
data.
Any retail food establishment licensed hereunder shall prominently
display the same, together with its inspection certificate, in or
upon the premises or upon the stand, concession or mobile establishment.
Any license issued under the terms and provisions of this article
may be suspended or revoked by the Hunterdon County Division of Public
Health Services for the violation by the licensee of any provision
of this article or Chapter XII of the State Sanitary Code of New Jersey
or whenever it shall appear that the business, trade, calling, profession
or occupation of the person, firm or corporation to whom such license
was issued is conducted in a disorderly or improper manner or in violation
of any law of the United States or the State of New Jersey or any
ordinance of this municipality, that the person or persons conducting
the retail food establishment are of an unfit character to conduct
the same or that the purpose for which the license has been issued
is being abused to the detriment of the public or is being used for
a purpose foreign to that for which the license was issued.
A license issued under the terms and provisions of this article
shall not be revoked, canceled or suspended until a hearing thereon
shall have been had by the Hunterdon County Division of Public Health
Services. Written notice of the time and place of such hearing shall
be served upon the licensee at least three days prior to the date
set for such hearing. Such notice shall also contain a brief statement
of the grounds to be relied upon for revoking, canceling or suspending
such license. Notice may be given either by personal delivery thereof
to the person to be notified or be deposited in the United States
Post Office in a sealed envelope, postage prepaid, addressed to such
person to be notified at the business address appearing upon said
license. At the hearing before the Hunterdon County Division of Public
Health Services, the person aggrieved shall have an opportunity to
answer and may thereafter be heard, and upon due consideration and
deliberation by the Hunterdon County Division of Public Health Services,
the complaint may be dismissed, or if the Hunterdon County Division
of Public Health Services concludes that the charges have been sustained
and substantiated, it may revoke, cancel or suspend the license held
by the licensee.
[Adopted 5-5-2003 by Ord. No. 681-2003]