On September 18, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 3336 (“AB-3336”) into law.  AB-3336 (codified at Section 113930.5 to the Health and Safety Code) sets new safety standards for third-party delivery applications, including sanitation and temperature standards.

The standards set in AB-3336 are consistent with the requirements for restaurants and stores, but this is the first time that third-party delivery applications have expressly and independently been required to follow them as well.  AB-3336 defines a “third-party food delivery platform” as a “business engaged in the service of online food ordering and delivery from a food facility to a consumer.”

AB-3336 requires ready-to-eat food delivered through a third-party food delivery platform to be transported in a manner in which the ready-to-eat food is protected from contamination.  The law would require all bags or containers in which ready-to-eat foods are being transported or delivered, from a food facility to a customer through a third-party food delivery platform, to be closed by the food facility with a tamper-evident method prior to the food deliverer taking possession of the food.  Additionally, food holding areas must meet sanitation standards, and food must be maintained at a temperature necessary to prevent spoilage.

AB-3336 provides that enforcement officers may recover, from a third-party food delivery platform, reasonable costs that are associated with enforcement against food deliverers who transport and deliver ready-to-eat food for the platform.  The law also allows enforcement officers to penalize food delivery applications for violations of the law.  Additionally, a person who violates any provision of the code may be subject to criminal prosecution for a misdemeanor offense.