Or. Admin. Code § 603-025-0225

Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 10, October 1, 2024

Section 603-025-0225 - Definitions

For purposes of OAR 603-025-0215 through 603-025-0275, the following definitions apply, in addition to those provided in ORS 616.680:

(1) "Acidic foods" means bottled, packaged or canned foods that meet any of the following requirements:

(a) Having a naturally occurring equilibrium pH of 4.6 or below; or

(b) Having been lacto-fermented to decrease the equilibrium pH of the food to 4.6 or below; or

(c) Having a water activity (aw) greater than 0.85 and having been acidified to decrease the equilibrium pH of the food to 4.6 or below.

(2) "Address" means physical street address, city, county, state, and zip code.

(3) "Agricultural producer" means a person, including family members and employees, who are primarily responsible for the growing, raising, and the harvesting agricultural products to the point at which the products are ready for sale to a consumer.

(4) "Approved" means conforming to scientific principles, applicable state and federal laws, and generally recognized industry standards that protect public health.

(5) "Canned" means an acidic food that has been preserved by placing it in a hermetically sealed container to which boiling water or steam is applied to reduce pathogenic and spoilage organisms.

(6) "Commingle" means to mix, pool, or combine agricultural products of more than one agricultural producer prior to the sale of the products.

(7) "Consign" means to send a farm direct product to market to be sold by a farm direct marketer who did not produce the product. Ownership of consigned products remains with the agricultural producer who produced the product until the product is sold to a consumer.

(8) "Consigning agricultural producer" means an agricultural producer that sells directly to the consumer farm direct products produced by another agricultural producer.

(9) "Consumer" means a person who is a member of the public, takes possession of food, is not functioning in the capacity of an operator of a food establishment, and does not offer the food for resale. "Consumer" does not include restaurants, grocery stores, schools, daycare centers, caterers, or any other institutions, such as prisons, hospitals, or nursing homes.

(10) "Cure" means to ripen naturally or by controlled environmental storage whereby the taste, smell, texture, or appearance of the product is altered without causing the product to become adulterated or processed to an extent that the product changes significantly from its original form. Examples of agricultural products that may be cured include, but are not limited to, garlic, potatoes, and sweet potatoes.

(11) "Department" means the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

(12) "Dried" and "dehydrated" mean the removal of moisture from the food to ensure that the finished product has a water activity of 0.85 or below, so that bacteria, yeast and molds cannot grow.

(13) "Farm direct marketer" means an agricultural producer that sells directly to the consumer the agricultural products grown, raised and harvested by that producer. A farm direct marketer may also sell, on consignment, farm direct products produced by another agricultural producer. When a farm direct marketer is selling, on consignment, the farm direct products of another agricultural producer, the farm direct marketer may be referred to as a "consigning agricultural producer."

(14) "Farm direct product" means an agricultural product grown, raised, and harvested by an agricultural producer to the point at which the product is ready for direct, retail sale to a consumer by the agricultural producer, through consignment, or through a third party service that actively manages the aggregation, distribution, marketing, and facilitation of sales.

(15) "Fresh" means not altered by processing. "Fresh" excludes potentially hazardous foods, including, but not limited to, raw seed sprouts of all kinds, raw melons that have been cut in any way, raw leafy greens that have been cut in any way, and raw tomatoes that have been cut in any way.

(16) "Herbs" means the aromatic leaves and flowers of herbaceous plants that enhance the flavor and fragrance of food. Herbs include, but are not limited to, all varieties of: basil, chervil, chives, cilantro, dill, lemon verbena, marjoram, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, savory, sorrel, tarragon, and thyme.

(17) "Lacto-fermented" means food processed by lactobacilli whereby the lactic acid content of the food decreases the equilibrium pH to 4.6 or below. Examples of lacto-fermented products include sauerkraut and kimchi.

(18) "Major food allergens" means the eight most common food allergens defined in the Food Allergen Labeling Protection Act of 2004 (FALCPA). The major food allergens that may be used in farm direct products, if all other requirements of relevant statutes and rules are met, are peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat, and sesame.

(19) "Principal ingredients" means the farm direct products that comprise a producer-processed product. For example, jalapeno peppers produced by a farm direct marketer would be a principal ingredient in pepper jelly, and tomatoes, onions, peppers, and garlic would be principal ingredients in salsa.

(20) "Producer-processed products" means foods:

(a) For which the principal ingredients are agricultural products grown, raised and harvested by the same agricultural producer that bottles, packages or cans the food; and

(b) For which ingredients other than principal ingredients are limited to herbs, spices, salt, vinegar, pectin, lemon or lime juice, honey and sugar, and

(c) For which every step necessary to prepare the farm direct products for sale will must be conducted in a facility located where the farm direct products were grown.

(21) "Retail purchaser," as used in ORS 616.680 through 616.686, means "consumer," as defined in this rule.

(22) "Spices" means any aromatic vegetable substance in the whole, broken, or ground form, except for those substances which have been traditionally regarded as foods, such as onions, garlic, and celery; whose significant function in food is seasoning rather than nutritional; that is true to name; and from which no portion of any volatile oil or other flavoring principle has been removed.

(23) "Water activity" means the measure of free moisture in a product and is the quotient of the water vapor pressure of the substance divided by the vapor pressure of pure water at the same temperature.

Or. Admin. Code § 603-025-0225

DOA 14-2012, f. & cert. ef. 6-1-12; DOA 43-2023, amend filed 11/29/2023, effective 11/29/2023

Statutory/Other Authority: ORS 561.190 & 616.686

Statutes/Other Implemented: ORS 616.683