ORANGE : Restaurants’ Order: Cleanliness Course

Despite protests from the Chamber of Commerce and the California Restaurant Assn., the City Council this week unanimously approved an ordinance creating the first program in the county requiring a course on cleanliness and food handling for restaurant managers.

The ordinance makes mandatory a four-hour course to educate managers of restaurants with five or more employees. The course will be administered by the environmental health department of the county’s Health Care Agency and will affect more than 200 restaurants.

Each location will have eight months to comply with the ordinance. Restaurants must have at least one manager who has earned a certificate by attending the $20 course and passing a written exam. The certificate is valid for three years.

Opponents of the new ordinance complained that the city program duplicates similar efforts by private industry and does not include smaller restaurants, markets and other food facilities prone to sanitation violations.

Ed Dart, a member of the Board of Supervisors Food Sanitation Advisory Council, said a task force concluded that the estimated course cost is too low and predicted a fee increase of up to $125. Dart said the program could also cost employers up to $150 per employee for time and travel expenses.

Bill Utter, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce’s governmental affairs committee, called the course “an unnecessary expense to put on the backs of restaurant owners” during an economic slowdown.