S.L. 2013-413 (H 74), sec. 7. Regulatory Reform: Private Club Exemption from Food Sanitation Laws
North Carolina local health departments have the duty to inspect and grade the sanitation of most establishments that prepare or serve food. G.S. 130A-248. Environmental health specialists carry out these inspections in accordance with state administrative rules and issue permits to establishments that receive passing sanitation grades. The general rule is that a food establishment may not operate if it has not been inspected and permitted. However, G.S. 130A-250 exempts some establishments from this requirement, including private clubs.
North Carolina local health departments have the duty to inspect and grade the sanitation of most establishments that prepare or serve food. G.S. 130A-248. Environmental health specialists carry out these inspections in accordance with state administrative rules and issue permits to establishments that receive passing sanitation grades. The general rule is that a food establishment may not operate if it has not been inspected and permitted. However, G.S. 130A-250 exempts some establishments from this requirement, including private clubs.
Section 7 of the 2013 Regulatory Report Act expands the exemption for private clubs by redefining the term “private club” in G.S. 130A-247, the law that defines terms for purposes of the food and lodging sanitation laws.
Under prior law, a private club was defined solely as a nonprofit organization that maintains selective members, is operated by the membership, and does not provide food or lodging to anyone other than a member or a member’s guest. Section 7 retains this definition, but adds “an organization that … meets the definition of a private club set forth in G.S. 18B-1000(5).” Under G.S. 18B-1000(5), a private club is an establishment that is eligible for a permit to serve mixed drinks and other alcoholic beverages without having to meet quotas for food service that would otherwise apply under the state’s ABC laws, because it is not open to the general public but only to members and their guests. It need not be nonprofit or operated by the membership. The effect of this redefinition is to exempt bars that prepare and serve food from the food sanitation laws, so long as they qualify as private clubs under the ABC laws.
Update: On October 23, 2013, the North Carolina Division of Public Health issued this position statement on the impact of the change to the definition of private club.