1. (a) Floors. The floors of all rooms in which mix, frozen desserts, imitation frozen desserts, or imitation frozen desserts mix, or their ingredients are manufactured, processed or frozen, or in which containers and utensils are washed, shall be constructed of concrete or other equally impervious and easily cleaned material, and shall be smooth, properly drained, provided with trapped drains, and kept clean and in good repair; provided that cold storage rooms used for storing frozen desserts, and cold storage rooms used for storing milk, cream or milk products, frozen fruits, frozen eggs, and comparable ingredients need not be provided with floor drains but the floors shall be sloped to drain to one or more exits, and shall be kept clean and in good repair; provided that dry storage rooms need not be drained and tight wood floor construction is optional. Provided further, that the construction requirements of this subsection shall be waived in the case of frozen desserts establishments if that portion of the room in which the freezer is installed and the room in which containers or utensils are washed have floors of metal, durable grades of linoleum or plastic, or tight wood impregnated with plastic in lieu of concrete.
2. (b) Walls and ceilings. Walls and ceilings of rooms in which mix, frozen desserts, or their ingredients are manufactured, processed or frozen, or in which containers or utensils are washed, shall have easily cleanable, washable light-colored surfaces and shall be kept clean and in good repair.
3. (c) Doors and windows. Unless other effective means are provided to prevent the access of flies, all openings to the outer air shall be effectively screened, and all doors shall be self-closing.

4. (d) Lighting and ventilation.

   1. (1) All rooms shall be well lighted.
   2. (2) All rooms shall be well ventilated.

5. (e) Miscellaneous protection from contamination.

   1. (1) The various frozen desserts plant operations shall be located and conducted as to prevent any contamination of the ice cream, ice cream mix, frozen desserts, frozen desserts mix, or their ingredients, or of cleaned equipment.

      1. (A) All milk, milk products, cream, mix, or frozen desserts that have been spilled, overflowed, or leaked shall be discarded.
      2. (B) All milk, milk products, cream, or mix drained from equipment at the end of a run shall be handled in a sanitary manner and shall be repasteurized.
      3. (C) All necessary and appropriate means shall be used for the elimination of flies, other insects, and rodents.
      4. (D) Rooms shall be free of flies.

      5. (E) There shall be separate rooms for:

         1. (i) pasteurization, processing, cooling, freezing, and packaging operations; and
         2. (ii) the washing and bactericidal treatment of multiuse containers.
      6. (F) Unless all milk, cream, mix, or milk products are received in bulk transport tanks, a receiving room separate from rooms as defined in subparagraph (E)(i) and (ii) of this paragraph shall also be required; provided that the requirement of subparagraph (E)(i) of this paragraph shall be satisfied when a frozen dessert manufacturer blends, freezes, and packages in a manner to prevent contamination; provided further, that frozen desserts, milk, milk products, and ingredients shall not be unloaded directly into the room or rooms used for pasteurizing.
      7. (G) Pasteurized mix or frozen desserts shall not be permitted to come in contact with equipment or containers with which unpasteurized mix, frozen desserts, cream, milk, or milk products have been in contact, unless such equipment has first been thoroughly cleaned and subjected to a bactericidal treatment.
      8. (H) Rooms in which milk or milk products, cream, mix, or frozen desserts are handled or stored shall not open into any stable or living quarters.
      9. (I) The milk plant, frozen dessert plant, containers, utensils, and equipment shall be used for no purpose other than the processing of milk, cream, milk products, mix, and frozen desserts, and the operation incident thereto, except as may be approved by the health authority.
   2. (2) The pump-out of the transport tank shall be done in an area where a cover extends over the complete transport tank or, where climatic and operating conditions require, in a completely enclosed area. Pump-out operations must be protected in such a manner as to prevent product contamination. If the area is not completely enclosed or doors of the unloading area are open during unloading, a suitable filter is required for the manhole or the air inlet vent.
   3. (3) The agitating and sampling of the transport tank milk shall be accomplished in such a manner as to provide maximum protection against product contamination. In no instance shall this be done at a place other than an approved unloading station.

   4. (4) The frozen dessert plant shall record the following information on each load of milk received, and maintain these records for a period of not less than 90 days:

      1. (A) date the load was received;
      2. (B) time received;
      3. (C) number of pounds in the load;
      4. (D) temperature of the milk or milk products;
      5. (E) the permit number of the truck delivering the milk;
      6. (F) the name of the station operator receiving the milk; and
      7. (G) the transport tank cleaning tag should be removed and kept with the other records for a period of 30 days.
   5. (5) In no case shall milk or milk products be received from a transport tank that appears to be damaged, dirty, or does not have a cleaning tag attached without the permission of the health authority.
6. (f) Toilet facilities. Every frozen desserts plant shall be provided with conveniently located toilet facilities conforming with the local and county ordinance and Texas Department of Health. Toilet rooms shall not open into any room in which mix is processed or handled. The doors of all toilet rooms shall be self-closing. Toilet rooms shall be kept in a clean condition, in good repair, and well ventilated. A sign directing employees to wash their hands before returning to work shall be posted in all toilet rooms used by employees.
7. (g) Water supply. The water supply shall be easily accessible, adequate, and of a safe sanitary quality.
8. (h) Handwashing facilities. Convenient handwashing facilities shall be provided, including hot and cold running water, soap, and approved sanitary towels. Handwashing facilities shall be kept clean. The use of a common towel is prohibited. No employee shall resume work after using the toilet room without having washed his hands.
9. (i) Sanitary piping and fittings. All piping and fittings used to conduct milk, cream, milk products, mix, or frozen desserts shall be of sanitary design and construction which meets 3-A sanitary standards and accepted procedures. Mix, frozen desserts, fluid milk products, and ingredients shall be conducted from one piece of equipment to another only by sanitary piping and fittings.

10. (j) Construction and repair of containers, utensils, and equipment.

    1. (1) All multi-use containers, utensils, and equipment with which mix, frozen desserts, milk, cream, and milk products and ingredients come in contact shall be of smooth, impervious, noncorrodible, nontoxic, relatively low absorbent material; shall be easily cleanable and shall be kept in good repair.
    2. (2) All single-service containers, closures, gaskets, and other articles shall be manufactured, packaged, transported, and handled in a sanitary manner.
11. (k) Disposal of wastes. All wastes shall be disposed of in a sanitary manner. All plumbing and appurtenances thereto shall be so designed and installed as to prevent the contamination of frozen desserts or any ingredient, utensil, container, or equipment by drip, condensation, or backflow.
12. (l) Cleaning and bactericidal treatment of multi-use utensils, containers, and equipment. All multi-use utensils, containers, and equipment shall be thoroughly cleaned before each usage. All product-contact surfaces of utensils, containers, and equipment shall be subjected effectively to an approved bactericidal process prior to use. Multi-use containers used for the transportation of mix shall be thoroughly rinsed immediately after emptying.
13. (m) Storage of multi-use utensils, containers, and equipment. After cleaning, all multi-use utensils, containers, and equipment shall be stored to drain dry, and in such a manner as not to be contaminated before usage.
14. (n) Storage of single-service containers, utensils, and materials. Caps, parchment papers, wrappers, liners, gaskets, and single-service sticks, spoons, covers, and containers for frozen desserts, mix, or their ingredients shall be purchased and stored only in sanitary tubes, wrappings, or cartons; shall be kept therein in a clean, dry place until used; and shall be handled in a sanitary manner. Reuse of single-service articles is prohibited.
15. (o) Handling of containers and equipment. Between bactericidal treatment and usage, and during usage, containers and equipment shall not be handled or operated in such a manner as to permit contamination of the mix, frozen desserts, or their ingredients. Pasteurized mix and frozen desserts shall not be permitted to come into contact with equipment with which unpasteurized mix, milk, cream, or milk products have been in contact, unless the equipment has been thoroughly cleaned and effectively subjected to an approved bactericidal process.

16. (p) Pasteurization of mix.

    1. (1) Every particle of the combined milk, cream, milk product, or other ingredients used in the manufacture of a frozen dessert mix shall be heated and held at temperatures of not less than 155 degrees Fahrenheit for not less than 30 minutes; or 175 degrees Fahrenheit for not less than 25 seconds; or any other equally efficient time/temperature process.
    2. (2) All pasteurization equipment and related appurtenances shall meet construction and operational requirements outlined in the latest edition of the U.S. Public Health Service Pasteurized Milk Ordinance.
17. (q) Cooling and handling. All milk, cream, milk products in fluid form received at the frozen desserts plant for use in frozen desserts mix shall be cooled to a temperature of 45%A1F or less and maintained at that temperature until pasteurized; and all pasteurized mix shall be cooled in approved equipment to a temperature of 45%A1F or less and shall be maintained thereat until frozen.
18. (r) Packaging and dispensing. Packaging, cutting, molding, dispensing, and other preparation of mix, frozen desserts, imitation frozen dessert mix, or imitation frozen desserts, or their ingredients shall be done in a sanitary manner. Containers shall be completely covered immediately after filling unless dispensed to the patron. Closures, covers, and wrappers shall be handled in such a manner as to prevent contamination of the package content.
19. (s) Returns. Mix, frozen desserts, imitation frozen desserts mix, or imitation frozen desserts in broken and opened containers may, after delivery, be returned to the plant for inspection, but shall not be sold or used for making mix, frozen desserts, imitation frozen desserts mix, or imitation frozen desserts.
20. (t) Overflow and spillage. Product drip or overflow, or spilled mix, frozen desserts, imitation frozen desserts, or imitation frozen desserts mix, or their ingredients, shall not be sold for human consumption.
21. (u) Personnel health. No person, while affected with any disease in a communicable form, or while a carrier of such disease, or while afflicted with boils, infected wounds, sores, or an acute respiratory infection, shall engage in pasteurizing, handling of ingredients, filling, packaging of freezing operations, or in any capacity in which there is a likelihood of such person contaminating mix and frozen desserts, imitation frozen desserts mix, and imitation frozen desserts or mix, and frozen dessert contact surfaces with pathogenic organisms, or transmitting disease to other individuals; and no person known or suspected of being affected with any such disease or condition shall be employed in such a capacity. If the management of the frozen desserts plant has reason to suspect that any employee has contracted any disease in a communicable form or has become a carrier of such disease, he shall notify the health authority immediately.
22. (v) Personnel cleanliness. All persons who come in contact with milk, cream, milk products, mix, frozen desserts, imitation frozen desserts, and imitation desserts mix containers or equipment, shall wear clean outer garments, hair restraints, and shall keep their hands clean at all times while engaged in such work.

23. (w) Vehicles.

    1. (1) All vehicles used for the transportation of mix, frozen desserts, imitation frozen desserts, imitation frozen desserts mix, cream, milk, and milk products shall be constructed and operated so as to protect their contents from the sun and contamination. Such vehicles shall be kept clean, and no substance capable of contaminating mix, frozen desserts, imitation frozen desserts, imitation frozen desserts mix, cream, milk, and milk products shall be transported therein. Such vehicles shall have the name of the distributor prominently displayed thereon.
    2. (2) Tank cars and tank trucks used for transporting mix, cream, milk, and milk products shall comply with the construction, cleaning, bactericidal treatment, storing and handling requirements of subsections (e), (j), (l), and (m) of this section. Each shipment shall be sealed and labeled in an approved manner.
24. (x) Ingredients. All mix and frozen dessert ingredients shall be clean, have a fresh wholesome flavor and odor and normal appearance, be of satisfactory quality, and shall be stored, handled, and processed in a sanitary manner.

Source Note:The provisions of this §217.48 adopted to be effective January 1, 1976.