Ariz. Admin. Code § 3-10-201

Current through Register Vol. 30, No. 50, December 13, 2024

Section R3-10-201 - Definitions

In addition to the terms defined under A.R.S. §§ 3-481 and 3-525, these words and phrases are defined for use in Articles 2 through 17 of this Chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

1. "Adequate" means that which is needed to accomplish the intended purpose in keeping with good public health practice.

2. "Adequately reduce undesirable microorganisms of public health significance" means reduce the presence of such undesirable microorganisms to an extent sufficient to prevent illness.

3. "Agricultural water" means water used in either:

a. Covered activities on covered produce where water is intended to, or is likely to, contact covered produce or food contact surfaces, including water used in all growing activities, such as irrigation water applied using direct water agricultural methods, water used for preparing crop sprays, and water used for growing sprouts; or

b. Harvesting, packing and holding activities, such as water used for washing or cooling harvested produce and water used for preventing dehydration of covered produce.

4. "Animal excreta" means solid or liquid animal waste.

5. "Applicable health condition" includes but is not limited to:

a. A communicable illness that presents a public health risk in the context of normal work duties,

b. An infection,

c. An open lesion,

d. Vomiting, or

e. Diarrhea.

6. "Covered activity":

a. Means growing, harvesting, packing, or holding covered produce on a farm, including manufacturing or processing of covered produce on a farm, but only to the extent that these activities are performed on raw agricultural commodities and only to the extent that these activities are within the meaning of "farm" as defined in this Chapter, and providing, acting consistently with, and documenting actions taken in compliance with written assurances as described in R3-10-303; and

b. Does not apply to activities of a facility that are subject to 21 CFR 1(B)(110) relating to preventive controls for human food and current good manufacturing practice in manufacturing, packing or holding human food.

7. "Covered produce":

a. Means produce that is subject to the requirements of Articles 3 through 17 of this Chapter in accordance with R3-10-303 and R3-10-304, and

b. Refers to the harvestable or harvested part of the crop.

8. "Department" means the Arizona Department of Agriculture.

9. "Designated representative" means the individual who is responsible for the farm's compliance with the requirements of Articles 3 through 17 of this Chapter that are applicable to the farm and who is selected by the owner, operator, lessee or agent. A designated representative may include an owner, operator, lessee, farm manager, produce safety expert, food safety professional, or agent of the farm.

10. "Direct water application method" means using agricultural water in a manner whereby the water is intended to, or is likely to, contact covered produce or food contact surfaces during use of the water.

11. "Farm" means:

a. Primary Production Farm. A primary production farm is an operation under one management in one general, but not necessarily contiguous, physical location devoted to growing crops, harvesting crops, raising animals, including seafood, or any combination of these activities. The term "farm" includes operations that, in addition to the above activities, also includes:

i. Packing or holding raw agricultural commodities;

ii. Packing or holding processed food, provided that all processed food used in such activities is either consumed on that farm or another farm under the same management or is processed food identified in subsection (iii)(2)(a) of this definition; and

iii. Manufacturing or processing food, provided that either:

(1) All food used in such activities is consumed on that farm or another farm under the same management;

(2) Any manufacturing or processing of food that is not consumed on that farm or another farm under the same management consists only of:

(a) Drying or dehydrating raw agricultural commodities to create a distinct commodity, such as drying or dehydrating grapes to produce raisins, and packaging and labeling such commodities, without additional manufacturing or processing;

(b) Treatment to manipulate the ripening of raw agricultural commodities, such as by treating produce with ethylene gas, and packaging and labeling treated raw agricultural commodities, without additional manufacturing or processing; and

(c) Packaging and labeling raw agricultural commodities, when these activities do not involve additional manufacturing or processing, such as irradiation; or

b. Secondary Activities Farm. A secondary activities farm is an operation, not located on a primary production farm, devoted to harvesting, such as hulling or shelling, packing, or holding of raw agricultural commodities, provided that the primary production farm that grows, harvests, or raises the majority of the raw agricultural commodities harvested, packed, or held by the secondary activities farm owns, or jointly owns, a majority interest in the secondary activities farm. A secondary activities farm may also conduct those additional activities allowed on a primary production farm in subsections (a)(i) and (ii) of this definition.

12. "FDA" means U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

13. "Food contact surfaces":

a. Means those surfaces that contact human food and those surfaces from which drainage, or other transfer, onto the food or onto surfaces that contact the food ordinarily occurs during the normal course of operations; and

b. Includes food contact surfaces of equipment and tools used during harvest, packing and holding.

14. "Food grains":

a. Means the small hard fruits or seeds of arable crops, or the crops bearing these fruits or seeds;

b. Are primarily grown and processed for use as meal, flour, baked goods, cereals and oils rather than for direct consumption as small, hard fruits or seeds; and

c. Includes barley, dent- or flint-corn, sorghum, oats, rice, rye, wheat, amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, and oilseeds, such as cottonseed, flax seed, rapeseed, soybean, and sunflower seed.

15. "Harvesting":

a. Means activities on farms and farm mixed type facilities that are traditionally performed on farms for the purpose of removing raw agricultural commodities from the place they were grown or raised and preparing them for use as food;

b. Is limited to activities performed on raw agricultural commodities, or on processed foods created by drying or dehydrating a raw agricultural commodity without additional manufacturing or processing, on a farm;

c. Does not include activities that transform a raw agricultural commodity into a processed food as defined in Section 201 (gg) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; and

d. Includes:

i. Cutting or otherwise separating the edible portion of the raw agricultural commodity from the crop plant and removing or trimming part of the raw agricultural commodity, such as foliage, husks, roots or stems.

ii. Cooling, field coring, filtering, gathering, hulling, shelling, sifting, threshing, trimming outer leaves, and washing raw agricultural commodities grown on a farm.

16. "Holding":

a. Means storage of food and activities performed incidental to storage of a food [Holding facilities could include warehouses, cold storage facilities, storage silos, grain elevators, and liquid storage tanks];

b. Includes activities performed as a practical necessity for distribution of that food, such as blending of the same raw commodity and breaking down pallets;

c. Examples include activities performed for the safe or effective storage of that food, such as fumigating food during storage, and drying or dehydrating raw agricultural commodities, when drying or dehydrating does not create a distinct commodity, such as drying or dehydrating hay or alfalfa; and

d. Does not include activities that transform a raw agricultural commodity into a processed food as defined in Section 201 (gg) of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

17. "Known or reasonably foreseeable hazard" means a biological agent that is known, is recognized, or has the potential to cause illness or injury in the absence of its control.

18. "Lot" means a definite quantity of seed identified by a lot number or other mark, every portion or bag of which is uniform within recognized tolerances for the factors that appear in the labeling.

19. "Manufacturing or processing":

a. Means making food from one or more ingredients, or synthesizing, preparing, treating, modifying or manipulating food, including food crops or ingredients;

b. Examples include baking, boiling, bottling, canning, cooking, cooling, cutting, distilling, drying or dehydrating raw agricultural commodities to create a distinct commodity, such as drying or dehydrating grapes to produce raisins, evaporating, eviscerating, extracting juice, formulating, freezing, grinding, homogenizing, labeling, milling, mixing, packaging, including modified atmosphere packaging, pasteurizing, peeling, rendering, treating to manipulate ripening, trimming, washing, or waxing; and

c. Does not include, for farms and mixed-type facilities, activities that are part of harvesting, packing, or holding.

20. "Manure" means animal excreta, alone or in combination with litter, such as straw and feathers used for animal bedding, for use as a soil amendment.

21. "Monitor" means to conduct a planned sequence of observations or measurements to assess whether a process, point or procedure is under control and, when required, to produce an accurate record of the observation or measurement.

22. "Packing":

a. Means placing food into a container and also includes re-packing and activities performed incidental to packing or re-packing a food;

b. Includes activities performed for the safe or effective packing or re-packing of that food, such as sorting, culling, grading, and weighing or conveying incidental to packing or re-packing; and

c. Does not include activities that transform a raw agricultural commodity into a processed food as defined in Section 201(gg) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

23. "Pest" means any objectionable animals or insects, including birds, rodents, flies, and larvae.

24. "Produce":

a. Means any fruit as defined in Article 3 of this Chapter or vegetable as defined in this Section;

b. Includes mixes of intact fruits and vegetables as well as mushrooms, sprouts, irrespective of seed source, peanuts, tree nuts and herbs; and

c. Does not include food grains as defined in this Section.

25. "Sanitize" means to adequately treat cleaned surfaces by a process that is effective in destroying vegetative cells of undesirable microorganisms of public health significance, and in substantially reducing numbers of other undesirable microorganisms, but without adversely affecting the product or its safety for the consumer.

26. "Undesirable microorganisms" means yeasts, molds, bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and microscopic parasites and includes species having public health significance.

27. "Vegetable":

a. Means the edible part of an herbaceous plant, such as cabbage or potato, or fleshy fruiting body of a fungus, such as white button or shiitake, grown for an edible part;

b. Means the harvestable or harvested part of any plant or fungus whose fruit, fleshy fruiting bodies, seeds, roots, tubers, bulbs, stems, leaves, or flower parts are used as food; and

c. Includes mushrooms, sprouts, and herbs, such as basil or cilantro.

28. "Visitor" means any person, other than personnel, who enters a covered farm with permission.

29. "Water distribution system" means a system to carry water from its primary source to its point of use, including pipes, sprinklers, irrigation canals, pumps, valves, storage tanks, reservoirs, meters, and fittings.

Ariz. Admin. Code § R3-10-201

Adopted by final exempt rulemaking at 26 A.A.R. 681, effective 8/20/2019.