For the purposes of this part, the following definitions apply.
(a) Acid foods means foods that have a natural pH of 4.6 or below.
(b) Acidified foods means low-acid foods to which acid(s) or acid food(s) are added; these foods include, but are not limited to, beans, cucumbers, cabbage, artichokes, cauliflower, puddings, peppers, tropical fruits, and fish, singly or in any combination. They have a water activity (a
(c) Lot means the product produced during a period indicated by a specific code.
(d) Low-acid foods means any foods, other than alcoholic beverages, with a finished equilibrium pH greater than 4.6 and a water activity (a
(e) Scheduled process means the process selected by a processor as adequate for use under the conditions of manufacture for a food in achieving and maintaining a food that will not permit the growth of microorganisms having public health significance. It includes control of pH and other critical factors equivalent to the process established by a competent processing authority.
(f) Shall is used to state mandatory requirements.
(g) Should is used to state recommended or advisory procedures or to identify recommended equipment.
(h) Water activity (a
The criteria in §§ 114.10, 114.80, 114.83, 114.89, and 114.100, as well as the criteria in parts 110 and 117 of this chapter, apply in determining whether an article of acidified food is adulterated:
(a) Within the meaning of section 402(a)(3) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in that it has been manufactured under such conditions that it is unfit for food; or
(b) Within the meaning of section 402(a)(4) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in that it has been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby it may have been rendered injurious to health.
All operators of processing and packaging systems shall be under the operating supervisions of a person who has attended a school approved by the Commissioner for giving instruction in food-handling techniques, food-protection principles, personal hygiene and plant sanitation practices, pH controls and critical factors in acidification, and who has been identified by that school as having satisfactorily completed the prescribed course of instruction. The Commissioner will consider students who have satisfactorily completed the required portions of the courses presented under § 108.35 and part 113 of this chapter before March 16, 1979, to be in compliance with the requirement of this section.