A.423 by Member of Assembly Pheffer

AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to

establishing a continuing education certification program for retail food stores

The New York Association of Convenience Stores is a private, not-for-profit trade association representing the interests of nearly 6,000 neighborhood mini-marts and convenience stores across the state, many of which are licensed as food "processing" establishments under Article 20-C of the Agriculture and Markets Law.

Mindful of the risks and consequences of food contamination, NYACS supports the concept of reasonable food safety training certification requirements for retail stores. We commend the sponsors for their initiative.

But if we're going to do this, let's do it right, and let's do it fairly.

Discriminating Against Small Retailers

Our first objection to the bill pertains to which entities would be eligible to apply to the Department of Agriculture and Markets for approval to deliver certified food safety continuing education.

In addition to wholesale distributors, franchisors, colleges and universities, cooperatives, statewide and national trade associations, Cooperative Extensions, the FDA, and the USDA being eligible to train retailers, retail chains of three stores or more could apply for approval to train and certify their own personnel.

The deliberate exclusion of retail enterprises consisting of one or two stores is troubling. It appears to be based on a discriminatory theory that operators of one or two stores are too stupid or sleazy to be trusted to conduct their own food safety training in-house the way their larger, more sophisticated competitors can.

The State of New York should not statutorily treat smaller businesses as second-class businesses. Store count is not a reliable gauge of retailer quality or responsibility. Either every retail business should be eligible to apply for approval to self-train, or no retail business should be eligible.

Beyond the principle of fairness, there are practical implications of this double standard. The owner of one or two licensed stores would have to rely on an external source to provide the training at a cost, location, and schedule that may be outside his or her control, whereas his larger competitor could train whenever and wherever they desire.

Exemption for Low-Risk Stores

Any store that "receives food or food products for the purpose of processing or otherwise adding to the value of the product for commercial sale" is supposed to have a 20-C food "processing" license from Ag & Markets.

Thus, a mini-mart whose food service is limited to making cappuccino and reselling pastry delivered by a local bakery can be required to obtain such a license at an annual fee of $100.

NYACS believes such low-risk 20-C licensees with limited food-service offerings should be spared the burden and expense of food safety training certification. Specifically, we support amending the bill to expressly exempt any licensee that does not process or prepare any "potentially hazardous food" as defined by existing Ag & Markets regulations. If they bake pizza or make sandwiches, fine. But if all they serve is food that was processed elsewhere, the training mandate is excessive.

Longer Implementation Period

The proposed one-year implementation period is too short. Realistically, two years will be needed to bring every store into compliance. Don't take our word for it, check with Pennsylvania – one of the states cited as an example in the Sponsor's Memorandum – where they have found it necessary to twice extend their implementation period.

Conclusion

The New York Association of Convenience Stores is committed promoting greater awareness of food safety procedures in the retail industry. To that end, NYACS presented a seven-hour ServSafe food safety certification course May 11-12 in Syracuse, voluntarily attended by 40 representatives of convenience store businesses of all sizes.

While generally supportive of the goal of instituting mandatory food safety training, for the reasons outlined above, NYACS respectfully opposes passage of this legislation in its current form.

A.423 by Member of Assembly Pheffer

James S. Calvin

President, NYACS

May 31, 2005