To safeguard and promote public health in the city, the following definitions shall apply in the interpretation and enforcement of this division:
Food establishment
means any hotel, restaurant, cafe, tavern, grocery store, bakery, fruit stand, bottling plant, or any other place where food or drink is handled, stored, packed, served, or sold in the city.
Food handler
means any person employed or working in a food establishment who handles food or drink during preparation or serving, or who comes in contact with any eating, drinking, or cooking utensils, or who works in a room or rooms in which food or drink is prepared, served or stored.
(Ordinance 276 adopted 1/20/1964; 1989 Code, sec. 9.121)
Any person who shall violate any of the provisions hereof shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined in any sum in accordance with the general penalty provided in section 1.01.009 of this code, and each day that a violation hereof continues shall constitute a separate offense.
(Ordinance 276 adopted 1/20/1964; 1989 Code, sec. 9.129; Ordinance adopting 2024 Code)
It shall hereafter be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation, or association, managing or conducting any food establishment where food or drink is served, sold or otherwise handled, to work or employ any food handler until such food handler has fully complied with all state laws and regulations and all city ordinances now or hereafter enacted and with all the provisions of this division [and] until such food handler has received a food handler’s registration certificate from the city health department which is valid at the time of such employment.
(Ordinance 276 adopted 1/20/1964; 1989 Code, sec. 9.122)
The city health department or city health officer shall issue food handler’s registration certificates to food handlers who satisfactorily pass the test and health examination hereinafter described, which certificates shall be valid for the length of time hereinafter specified and shall be required to be renewed as herein stated.
(Ordinance 276 adopted 1/20/1964; 1989 Code, sec. 9.123)
No food handler’s certificate for use in the city shall be issued by the city health department to any person required by law or by this division to have or exhibit such certificate certifying the holder to be free from contagious, infectious or communicable diseases, until the applicant for such certificate shall have been first tested and examined under the recognized standard test for syphilis which must have been given a physician by a physician [sic] licensed to practice in Bell or Williamson County, Texas, and if the specimen is then found to have no positive reaction, the applicant must then secure a certificate from a licensed practicing physician indicating that the physical examination shows the applicant to be free of all contagious, infectious, or communicable diseases.
(Ordinance 276 adopted 1/20/1964; 1989 Code, sec. 9.124)
In addition to the foregoing, each applicant shall be required once each year to be further examined for tuberculosis by tuberculin skin test and/or X-ray examination of the lungs, and in the event the applicant takes the tuberculin skin test and it shows a positive reaction, such applicant will be required to have an X-ray examination of the lungs by a licensed physician in Texas, or by the city health department. In the event the tuberculin test and/or X-ray examination of the lungs shows the applicant to be free of tuberculosis, the city health department or physician making the test or examination, as the case may be, shall issue to the applicant a certificate showing the applicant to be free from tuberculosis.
(Ordinance 276 adopted 1/20/1964; 1989 Code, sec. 9.125)
After the above has been accomplished, the applicant shall be issued a food handler’s registration certificate by the time of taking such physical examination [sic]. Each such applicant [certificate] must be renewed by such applicant each twelve (12) months by the same procedure as outlined above.
(Ordinance 276 adopted 1/20/1964; 1989 Code, sec. 9.126)
It shall hereafter be unlawful for any food handler, as defined in this division, to work for any person, firm, corporation, or association as a food handler in the city without having a food handler’s registration certificate issued to him or her by the Bell or Williamson County health department, which is valid at the time of such employment. Said food handler’s registration shall be surrendered to the employer, who shall post it in a conspicuous location.
(Ordinance 276 adopted 1/20/1964; 1989 Code, sec. 9.127)
When the city health officer, the director of the Bell or Williamson County department or a representative of said department has reason to believe that there exists a possibility of transmission of infection from a food handler, he shall be authorized to require any or all of the following:
(1) 
The immediate exclusion of the employee, as an employee, from all food establishments.
(2) 
The immediate closing of the food establishment concerned until no further danger of disease outbreak exists.
(3) 
Adequate medical examinations of the employee and of his associates, with such laboratory examinations as may be indicated. The expense of such examinations is to be the responsibility of the employer.
(Ordinance 276 adopted 1/20/1964; 1989 Code, sec. 9.128)