When we get something wrong, or a rule changes, we record it here with what changed and why. If a SpoonSeal reminder or task was generated under an older version of a requirement, this page is how you find out.
Requirements vary by location and by how you operate. Always confirm with the agency linked in each article before acting.
The annual renewal deadline was stated as January 31. It is February 15 to file, with payment due April 1.
Why: Confirmed against the City of Atlanta Office of Revenue.
https://www.atlantaga.gov/government/departments/finance/office-of-revenue/renewing-your-business-occupational-tax-certificateZoning now requires the specific address and intended uses before any conclusion, and district lists are framed as likely permitted subject to verification. "Required for any tenant finish-out" was narrowed, and unsourced permit processing-time estimates were removed. The certificate of occupancy article no longer states a default 90-day temporary CO duration; the expiry is whatever the issued TCO says.
Why: Broad district-level conclusions and default durations invited operators to rely on facts we could not source to their parcel or their document.
Three articles titled for San Francisco were attached to the California jurisdiction, so they appeared on the Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, Sacramento, Riverside and San Bernardino guides. Retitled to California, and the San Francisco specific statement about Type 47 licence scarcity was rewritten as a county quota that varies.
Why: A single city's market condition was being presented to operators statewide.
Written procedures were implied to be a general buffet and salad-bar requirement. They attach to using Time as a Public Health Control under §3-501.19, not to having a self-service line. The always-applicable protections are now listed separately from the conditional paperwork.
Why: The requirement follows how you hold the food, not the fact that you have a buffet.
The article said food equipment must be NSF certified. Certification by an ANSI-accredited program is one recognised way to demonstrate compliance and may be required by your plan reviewer, but it is not universally mandated. Proof items are now labelled required, conditionally required or recommended.
Why: The Food Code deems certified equipment compliant rather than requiring certification.
NFPA 96 inspection frequency was presented as a mandatory cleaning frequency, and moderate-volume kitchens were listed as quarterly. Moderate volume is semiannual, and cleaning happens when an inspection finds grease requiring removal. IKECA certification is no longer presented as universally required.
Why: Conflating inspection with cleaning could cause operators to buy cleanings they do not need, or to assume an inspection alone satisfies the code.
"Date label all prepared foods" narrowed to refrigerated ready-to-eat TCS food held more than 24 hours, with day of preparation counted as day 1. The "beef above pork above poultry" mnemonic was replaced with the actual principle: separate ready-to-eat from raw animal food, and separate raw animal foods by minimum required cooking temperature, accounting for intact versus ground or injected product. "All equipment is NSF certified" corrected in line with the equipment article.
Why: The mnemonic is incomplete and can mislead where product condition changes the cooking temperature.
Removed the statements that a certified manager must be on staff "at all times", that the certificate must be posted, and that it renews every five years. The rules contain exemptions, and the valid period is set by the certification program taken.
Why: These absolutes were not supported by the Georgia rules.
An internal editorial marker reading "VERIFY" was visible to readers on 236 articles, mostly in the fee line. Removed. Wording stating that FDA Food Code rules are "uniform nationwide" was replaced, because the Food Code is a model that states adopt in different editions with amendments. The guide index no longer claims "authoritative guidance on every permit".
Why: The Food Code is a model code, and an unresolved editorial note should never have been published.
Two changes. The article said your insurer enforces NFPA 17A and that missing reports can void fire coverage; that is now described accurately as policy-specific, since some property policies attach an ISO protective safeguards endorsement and many carry none at all. Separately, metal-alloy fusible link replacement was described as semiannual; NFPA 96 (2021 and 2024 editions) requires replacement at least annually, and semiannual was the pre-2021 rule.
Why: The authority having jurisdiction enforces the adopted fire code. Insurance consequences depend on the individual policy and its endorsements, so a categorical claim was not supportable.
The article said a certificate "proves active coverage" and must be updated annually. A certificate summarizes a policy as of its issue date, confers no rights and cannot amend the policy; request a new one at renewal, when contract requirements change, or when a holder asks. Georgia workers-compensation thresholds and example coverage limits were removed from this shared national article.
Why: The certificate cannot say more than the policy behind it, and one state's workers-compensation rule was appearing on every city guide.
https://www.dfs.ny.gov/consumers/insurance_certificatesRemoved the claim that the semiannual LAFD cadence is "stricter than the standard NFPA cadence", which contradicted our own national article. Added the correct adopted citation (2022 California Fire Code, adopted by Ordinance 187994) and corrected the tag rule citation to 19 CCR 906.2(a). Record retention was listed as recommended; it is required — 19 CCR 904.2(b) requires records kept on the premises for five years after the next required test.
Why: Presenting a legal retention requirement as optional was the more serious of the two errors.
Load-out, arrival and holding logs were called a universal record and recordkeeping was said to be the same everywhere. The legal baseline is maintaining safe temperatures; event logs are recommended evidence and become required under a local catering permit, HACCP plan, variance, corrective-action order, or when using time as a public health control.
Why: The cited holding provision sets temperature limits, not a universal three-check event log.
A sentence stating "Georgia requires licensed pest control services" appeared in this shared article on every city guide. Removed. Monthly professional service and 12-month report retention are no longer presented as universal requirements.
Why: Shared articles are inserted into every jurisdiction, so one state's rule appeared nationwide.
A six-year internal examination and 12-year hydrostatic test were stated as applying to all extinguishers. Those intervals depend on the extinguisher's construction and agent type. Extinguisher selection is now described as hazard-based rather than a fixed room-by-room formula.
Why: The intervals are set per asset by the NFPA 10 and OSHA tables together with manufacturer instructions.
The third FDA freezing method was stated as holding at -31°F for 24 hours. It is corrected to: freeze at -31°F until solid, then store at -4°F or below for 24 hours. The 90-day record-retention period was missing and has been added.
Why: The Food Code's third method steps the temperature back up to -4°F once the fish is frozen solid.
https://www.fda.gov/food/retail-food-protection/fda-food-codeDaily temperature logs for every unit were presented as a code expectation. The adopted code requires the holding temperature and an accurate temperature-measuring device in each unit; daily logs are recommended practice, and become required only under a HACCP plan, variance, permit condition or corrective-action order. EPA Section 608 wording was narrowed from "any refrigerant servicing" to the covered activities and technician types.
Why: Operators were being told a recommended control was a legal requirement.
The 90-day retention period was described as running from the date the container is emptied. It runs from the date the last shellfish from that container is sold or served, and that date must be recorded on the tag.
Why: Emptying the container and serving the last shellfish are different events, so the old wording could have shortened the retention period.
https://www.fda.gov/food/retail-food-protection/fda-food-codeThe article said all reduced-oxygen packaging and sous-vide requires a variance. Qualifying ROP may operate without a variance when every condition of §3-502.12 is met, though a HACCP plan is still required. Split into two explicit paths.
Why: Operators were being told to seek approval they may not need.
https://www.fda.gov/food/retail-food-protection/fda-food-codeTwo Texas articles were titled for Houston and three Washington articles for Seattle, though each describes a statewide requirement. Retitled. The Washington food worker card article had presented a King County manager-certification requirement as statewide; it is now described as a local health jurisdiction requirement.
Why: Found by the new automated content audit after the original review.
Commercial hauler agreements and disposal records were presented as records restaurants generally must keep. The article now separates food-code sanitation controls, which always apply, from local solid-waste records, which apply only where a city, county, franchise hauler system, landlord or permit requires them.
Why: The article itself acknowledged that commercial waste programs vary locally while stating retention as a general obligation.