Rule 37.110.213 - EQUIPMENT AND UTENSIL DESIGN AND FABRICATION(1) All equipment and utensils, including plastic-ware, must be designed and fabricated for durability under conditions of normal use and shall be resistant to denting, buckling, pitting, chipping, and crazing.(2) Food contact surfaces must be easily cleanable, smooth, and free of breaks, open seams, cracks, chips, pits, and similar imperfections, and free of difficult-to-clean internal corners and crevices. Cast iron may be used as a food contact surface only if the surface is heated, such as in grills, griddle tops, and skillets. Threads must be designed to facilitate cleaning; ordinary "v" type threads are prohibited in food contact surfaces, except that in equipment such as ice makers or hot oil cooking equipment and hot oil filtering systems, such threads must be minimized.(3) Equipment containing bearings and gears requiring unsafe lubricants must be designed and constructed so that the lubricant cannot leak, drip, or be forced into food or onto food contact surfaces. Only food-safe lubricants must be used on equipment designed to receive lubrication of bearings and gears on or within food contact surfaces.(4) Tubing and cold plates conveying beverages or beverage ingredients to dispensing heads may be in contact with stored ice provided such tubing is fabricated from safe materials, is grommeted at entry and exit points to preclude moisture (condensation) from entering the ice machine or the ice storage bin, and is kept clean. Drainage or drainage tubes from dispensing units must not pass through the ice machine or the ice storage bin unless the tubes are properly shielded or separated from the potable ice.(5) Sinks and drainboards must be self-draining.(6) Unless designed for in-place cleaning, food contact surfaces must be accessible for cleaning and inspection: (a) without being disassembled;(b) by disassembling without the use of tools; or(c) by easy disassembling with the use of only simple tools such as a mallet, a screwdriver, or an open-end wrench kept available near the equipment.(7) Equipment intended for in-place cleaning must be designed and fabricated so that: (a) cleaning and sanitizing solutions can be circulated throughout a fixed system using an effective cleaning and sanitizing regimen;(b) cleaning and sanitizing solutions will contact all interior food contact surfaces; and(c) the system is self-draining or capable of being completely evacuated.(8) Fixed equipment designed and fabricated to be cleaned and sanitized by pressure spray methods must have sealed electrical wiring, switches, and connections.(9) Temperature measuring devices are required in all food establishments and must meet the following requirements: (a) may not have sensors or stems constructed of glass, except that temperature measuring devices with glass sensors or stems that are encased in a shatterproof coating, such as candy thermometers, may be used;(b) must have a numerical scale, printed record, or digital readout in increments no greater than 2 ° F (1 ° C);(c) must be designed to be easily readable;(d) devices that are used to check food temperatures must be scaled only in Celsius or scaled only in Fahrenheit or dually scaled in Celsius and Fahrenheit and must be accurate to ± 2 ° F (± 1 ° C);(e) devices that are used to measure ambient air and water temperature that are scaled in Celsius or dually scaled in Celsius and Fahrenheit must be designed to be easily readable and accurate to ± 3 ° F (± 1.5 ° C) at the use range;(f) in a mechanically refrigerated or hot food storage unit, the sensor of a temperature measuring device must be located to measure the air temperature in the warmest part of a mechanically refrigerated unit and in the coolest part of a hot food storage unit;(g) cold or hot holding equipment used for storing or displaying potentially hazardous food must be designed to include and must be equipped with at least one integral or permanently affixed temperature measuring device that is located to allow easy viewing of the device's temperature display; and(h) subsection (9) does not apply to equipment such as heat lamps, cold plates, bainsmarie, steam tables, insulated food transport containers, and salad bars when the placement of a temperature measuring device is not a practical means for measuring the ambient air surrounding the food because of the design, type, and use of the equipment.(10) Surfaces of equipment not intended for contact with food, but which are exposed to splash or food debris or which otherwise require frequent cleaning must be designed and fabricated to be smooth, washable, free of unnecessary ledges, projections, or crevices, and readily accessible for cleaning, and must be of such material and in such repair as to be easily maintained in a clean and sanitary condition. Unfinished wood is not acceptable as a non-food contact surface in areas utilized for food preparation, equipment, or utensil washing.(11) Hoods must be installed at or above all commercial type deep fat fryers, broilers, fry grills, steam-jacketed kettles, hot-top ranges, ovens, barbecues, rotisseries, dishwashing machines, and similar equipment which produce comparable amounts of steam, smoke, grease, or heat.(12) Ventilation hoods and devices must be designed to prevent grease or condensation from collecting on walls and ceilings, and from dropping into foods or onto food contact surfaces.(13) Filters or other grease extracting equipment must be readily removable for cleaning and replacement if not designed to be cleaned in place.(14) Hoods, filters, hood fire extinguishing equipment and other ventilation system items must be kept clean.(15) Equipment that was installed in a food service establishment prior to the effective date of this rule, and that does not fully meet all of the design and fabrication requirements of this rule, will be deemed acceptable in that establishment if it is in good repair, capable of being maintained in a sanitary condition, and the food contact surfaces are non-toxic. Replacement equipment and new equipment acquired after the effective date of this rule must meet the requirements of this subchapter.Mont. Admin. r. 37.110.213
NEW, 1979 MAR p. 677, Eff. 7/13/79; AMD, 1985 MAR p. 928, Eff. 7/12/85; AMD, 1986 MAR p. 1076, Eff. 6/27/86; TRANS & AMD, 2000 MAR p. 3201, Eff. 11/23/00.Sec. 50-50-103, MCA; IMP, Sec. 50-50-103, MCA;