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Retail Food Regulatory Program

Program Manager: Cole Dalton (385) 332-1499

The Retail Food Regulatory Program is committed to protecting our food supply and reducing the incidence of foodborne illness outbreaks. Our mission is to safeguard public health by regulating and monitoring food establishments, ensuring compliance with good retail practices and establishing public health interventions to mitigate foodborne illness risk factors.


The Retail Food Regulatory Program regulates products that are prepared and/or sold directly to individual consumers. Examples of retail food establishments include: grocery stores, convenience stores with no open food service, retail meat or fish markets, amenable product storage and distribution, commercial or in-store bakeries, candy processors, prepackaged ice cream trucks, honey processors, food storage warehouses and pantries (except school district warehouses located within a school), and cottage food establishments. Food establishments that are primarily engaged in wholesale operations fall under the jurisdiction of the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program (in addition to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration). Food establishments that are primarily engaged in food service operations for immediate consumption fall under the jurisdiction of their local health department.

Starting a Retail Food Establishment Business:

All prospective, converted, or remodeled food establishments must complete and submit a plan review application at least thirty (30) calendar days prior to operating. After the plans have been reviewed and approved, a pre-operational inspection is to be conducted at the conclusion of the construction process to ensure that the food establishment has been built in accordance with the approved plans and specifications. An application for food establishment registration will be completed during the pre-operational inspection. Note: All relevant plan review and registration fees must be paid before a food establishment registration can be issued. The owner or operator is responsible for submitting all Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plans, variance requests, and written standard operating procedures before engaging in a specialized processing and/or packaging method.

Inspection Protocol:

Inspection frequencies are assigned and prioritized based on the level of risk associated with the food establishment; the type of food processing, volume of product, target population and compliance history are all considerations used to assign risk categories. Unscheduled risk-based routine inspections are conducted to ensure compliance with current food safety rules and regulations. It is the policy of the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food to obtain voluntary compliance regarding inspection violations. The Retail Food Regulatory Program has a follow-up inspection policy based on the type of violation observed: priority violations must be followed-up within seven (7) calendar days; priority foundation violations must be followed-up within fourteen (14) calendar days. A failure to implement appropriate corrective action in a timely manner, requiring more than one followup inspection in order to achieve compliance, authorizes the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food to impose a follow-up inspection fee of $200.00 per occurrence. Failure to promptly correct violations may be punishable by the suspension of your registration, criminally as a Class B misdemeanor, by citation of up to $500.00, and/or civilly by fines of up to $5,000.00 per occurrence.

Additional Information and Documents: