North Carolina is enforcing a new health code, updating restaurant inspections to reflect the standards set in the Food and Drug Administration’s 2017 Food Code. The state has historically been behind on adopting the federal guidelines, and there was uncertainty around when the state would begin enforcing the 2017 code due to the pandemic. Though the change was signed into law by Governor Roy Cooper last summer, enforcement did not begin until Oct. 1.

Few, if any, of the changes will be noticeable to diners — most center around staff knowledge and procedures. For example, the new code adds a sixth reportable illness — Salmonella (nontyphoidal) — to the list that employees must be able to name or quickly locate information about. Another change is that an instant read thermometer can indicate a temperature for any amount of time for most proteins, though employees will need to maintain 155 degrees for at least 17 seconds for items such as ground meat. One large change in the 2017 Food Code was adopted a few years ago: the cold holding temperature dropping to 41 degrees.

There were also changes to the procedures for sous vide cooking, with restaurants no longer requiring a variance when items are vacuum-sealed and cooked within less than 48 hours.

According to Adam Dietrich, who teaches ServSafe certification prep through his business Expo Food Safety, the health department is giving restaurants a grace period to adjust to the new regulations, as well as working to clarify some of the regulations. He fears that restaurants may be in for a big points hit on their sanitation ratings when that grace period ends — and those lower scores will be the most visible aspect of the change to customers.

“I am assuming that because they’re noting it as a critical violation, that if it’s not corrected by the next inspection, you’re going to lose points for it,” he says. “I think your first inspection under this new food code is probably going to get a grace period, they’ve even been giving grace periods throughout COVID for not having ServSafe certification. But that’s coming to an end very, very soon.”

The FDA tends to release its updated food code guidelines every four years. With the last release in 2017, and in 2013 before that, it’s likely North Carolina will be caught up only for a short amount of time. North Carolina had been operating on the 2013 food code until this month.

“We at Expo Food Safety are expecting a new food code any day now,” Dietrich says. “That just puts North Carolina once again behind the curve, when really we should have made those changes when the food code changed.”

Find more information on the updated food code and what’s changed from the NCRLA.

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