The Florida Senate

500.148  Reports and dissemination of information; confidentiality.--

(1)  The department may publish from time to time reports summarizing all judgments and court orders that have been rendered under this chapter, including the nature of the charges and the disposition thereof.

(2)  The department may also disseminate any information regarding food that it considers necessary in the interest of public health and the protection of the consumer against fraud. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the department from collecting, reporting, and illustrating the results of these investigations.

(3)  Information deemed confidential under 21 C.F.R. part 20.61, part 20.62, or part 20.88, or 5 U.S.C. s. 552(b), and which is provided to the department during a joint food safety or food illness investigation, as a requirement for conducting a federal-state contract or partnership activity, or for regulatory review, is confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution. Such information may not be disclosed except under a final determination by the appropriate federal agencies that such records are no longer entitled to protection, or pursuant to an order of the court. This section is subject to the Open Government Sunset Review Act of 1995 in accordance with s. 119.15, and shall stand repealed on October 2, 2008, unless reviewed and saved from repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.

(4)  Upon request of a food establishment, the department may issue a report certifying that the requesting food establishment currently complies with the sanitation and permitting requirements of this chapter and the rules promulgated thereunder. Such certification may be requested for the purpose of exporting food to a foreign country. The department is authorized to recover the cost associated with carrying out the provisions of this subsection, the amount of which shall be set by rule.

History.--s. 22, ch. 19656, 1939; CGL 1940 Supp. 4151(685); ss. 14, 19, 35, ch. 69-106; ss. 3, 5, ch. 76-47; s. 427, ch. 77-147; s. 16, ch. 82-225; s. 12, ch. 87-388; s. 13, ch. 94-180; s. 27, ch. 2002-295; s. 1, ch. 2003-172.

Note.--Former s. 500.22.