5.3 Menu Review, Approved Sources & Food Labeling
Key Takeaways
- A menu review reads every item for its process type, TCS status, allergens, raw or undercooked animal foods, and any specialized process requiring a variance.
- All food must come from an approved source — a supplier regulated and inspected by an appropriate federal, state, or local authority; home-prepared and home-canned food is prohibited.
- Raw or undercooked animal foods offered on the menu require a consumer advisory with both a disclosure and a reminder.
- Retail food packaged on site for sale must be labeled with the common name, ingredients in descending order of predominance, major allergen declaration, net quantity, and the name and place of business.
- Molluscan shellfish require an intact harvester tag, and the tag is retained 90 days after the last shellfish from the container is served.
5.3 Menu Review, Approved Sources & Food Labeling
Exam Tip: The menu is the single most information-dense document in an establishment. Before you measure a single temperature, the menu tells you which processes exist, which TCS foods are handled, whether a consumer advisory is required, and whether a variance should be on file.
Reading the Menu as a Risk Document
Work through every item and answer six questions:
| Question | What it determines |
|---|---|
| Is it TCS? | Whether time and temperature control applies |
| Which process type is it? | Process 1 no-cook, Process 2 cook-serve, or Process 3 complex — this sets the establishment's risk category |
| Is any animal food served raw or undercooked? | Whether a consumer advisory is required |
| Which of the nine major allergens does it contain? | Whether the allergen matrix is complete and current |
| Does it involve a specialized process? | Whether a variance and HACCP plan should be on file |
| Is it served to a highly susceptible population? | Whether the HSP prohibitions apply |
Menu items that should trigger immediate follow-up
- Sushi and sashimi — parasite destruction records (freezing) or documentation that the species is exempt; acidified sushi rice held at ambient temperature requires a variance in most jurisdictions.
- Raw oysters on the half shell — shellstock tags, consumer advisory, and in an HSP facility, prohibition.
- Steak tartare, carpaccio, rare hamburger — consumer advisory; many jurisdictions prohibit undercooked comminuted meat entirely.
- Caesar dressing made with raw egg — pasteurized egg required, or a consumer advisory.
- House-cured charcuterie, house-smoked fish — variance and HACCP plan.
- Sous vide, cook-chill, vacuum-packed items — HACCP plan, and variance unless exempt.
- House-made sprouts — variance; prohibited for HSP.
- Bean sprouts, cut leafy greens, cut tomatoes, cut melons — all TCS, and commonly mishandled as if they were not.
That last line catches many candidates. Cut leafy greens, cut tomatoes, and cut melons are TCS foods. So are garlic-in-oil mixtures, cooked rice and pasta, sprouts, and heat-treated plant foods such as baked potatoes and cooked beans.
Approved Sources
The Food Code requires that food be obtained from sources that comply with law. In practice, an approved source is one that is regulated and inspected by an appropriate federal, state, or local regulatory authority.
| Category | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Meat and poultry | USDA-FSIS inspected, bearing the mark of inspection; or state-inspected under an FSIS-recognized equal-to program |
| Fish | From an approved commercial source; wild-caught game fish sold to the public is generally prohibited |
| Molluscan shellfish | From a dealer listed on the Interstate Certified Shellfish Shippers List (ICSSL), with an intact harvester or dealer tag |
| Eggs | Clean, sound-shelled, from an inspected source; pasteurized egg product required for HSP and for many raw-egg preparations |
| Milk and dairy | Pasteurized, Grade A |
| Juice | Pasteurized, or bearing a warning label; juice packaged on site for sale requires a juice HACCP plan |
| Game animals | Only under the Code's specific provisions; wild game is largely prohibited at retail |
| Canned goods | Commercially processed; home-canned food is prohibited |
| Mushrooms | Wild mushrooms only from an approved source with an expert identification and jurisdictional approval |
The categorical prohibitions worth memorizing: no home-prepared food, no home-canned food, no raw milk for retail sale in most jurisdictions, and no food prepared in a private home for use in a food establishment. "A regular customer brings in her own preserves" is a Priority violation, not a charming detail.
Verifying source during an assessment
Ask for and examine: invoices and bills of lading, the USDA mark of inspection on meat and poultry cases, shellstock tags, milk crate coding, and supplier approval documentation. Where a facility operates under FSMA, a Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) record is required for imported food, and supply-chain preventive controls apply when a hazard is controlled by the supplier.
Labeling
Two distinct labeling regimes appear on the exam.
1. Food packaged on site for retail sale
Required elements:
- Common name of the food, or an adequately descriptive statement
- Ingredient list in descending order of predominance by weight, including sub-ingredients
- Major food allergen declaration — either within the ingredient list in parentheses or in a separate "Contains" statement
- Net quantity of contents
- Name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor
- Nutrition labeling where required, with small-business and certain retail exemptions
2. In-house identification labeling
This is not consumer labeling but is inspected just as closely:
- Date marking on ready-to-eat TCS food held more than 24 hours: a discard date no more than 7 days at 41°F or below, day of preparation counted as day 1.
- Working container labels for food removed from its original package: common name of the food.
- Chemical working container labels: common name of the material.
- Time as a Public Health Control markings: the time the food was removed from temperature control and the discard time.
The Consumer Advisory
When an establishment offers raw or undercooked animal food — including raw shellfish, rare meat, undercooked eggs, or raw fish — the Food Code requires a consumer advisory with two mandatory parts:
- Disclosure — identifies the specific items, either by an asterisk keyed to a footnote or by a statement that they are served raw or undercooked. It must be specific enough that the consumer knows which item is affected.
- Reminder — states that consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish, or eggs may increase the risk of foodborne illness, especially for people with certain medical conditions.
A disclosure alone is not compliant, and neither is a reminder alone. Both must be present, and the advisory must be visible to the consumer at the point of ordering.
In a facility serving a highly susceptible population, the advisory is not an option: raw or undercooked animal foods are prohibited outright, along with raw seed sprouts and unpasteurized juice.
A restaurant menu marks its steak tartare with an asterisk keyed to a footnote reading "*Served raw." Is the consumer advisory compliant?
Which of the following is a TCS (time/temperature control for safety) food that operators frequently mishandle as if it were not?
A grocery deli packages house-made chicken salad for self-service retail sale. Which set of label elements is required?
An inspector finds jars of peach preserves in a cafe's dry storage. The owner explains that a longtime customer cans them at home and donates them for the breakfast service. What is the correct assessment?