Food Safety & Caterers: At a Glance
When planning your events and/or fundraising opportunities (banquets, socials, or selling food on Ring Road), please review the information below on requesting a Temporary Food Permit and potential catering options.
UCI Environmental Health & Safety: Temporary Food Permits
Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) strives to provide reliable, innovative, and proactive services to the campus community. EHS and the campus community work together. Our goal is to integrate safety into the culture of our community while supporting academic and research excellence. The result is a safe and healthy environment with appropriate compliance, protection of assets, and efficient execution of business processes.
A Temporary Food Permit is required for public events on UCI property where food is sold or given away. UCI requires permits to ensure the safety of our campus community and to track food that was cooked or served in the event of reported foodborne illness. The California Retail Food Code (CalCode) dictates the requirements for the operation of a temporary food facility.
Food from UCI Approved Caterers or Not Approved Caterers provided by UCI Hospitality & Dining Services
If you choose to use a caterer to deliver and service food for your RCO meetings, programs, and events, you are required to use an approved on-campus or off-campus caterer. Click here for a list of approved caterers from Hospitality and Dining Services. However, if you choose to use a caterer that is not on the approved caterers list, then you need to contact UCI Hospitality and Dining Services to recieve an information packet to find out if the caterer is eligible to be approved. The deadline for submitting the completed Off-campus Caterer Approval packet is the 14th day of the month prior to your event. The Approved UCI Off-campus Caterer List is published on the 15th day of each month. UCI Hospitality and Dining Services is the exclusive caterer for the Student Center. Please plan accordingly.
Note: RCOs can bring food from off-campus food caterers and distribute to their members on their own without any assistance from a caterer.
RCO Serving Alcohol?
- Review alcohol policies (sec. 900-13)
- Submit your alcohol request form 20 days in advance to UCI Hospitality & Dining Services, but before you must attain signatures from Event Location Approver (e.g., Student Center), and Approving Authority (RCOs submit to Student Life and Leadership) so you need to plan accordingly
- Hospitality and Dining will review the request and contact your organization
- For more information, click here