Animals in Retail Food Establishments

Summer is upon us which means for many of us we may have to navigate more issues with people bringing animals into our establishments. How do we handle having animals brought into our establishments and what questions can we ask in regards to service animals? Those are the questions that we are going to address in this article.

I have a great, printable pamphlet regarding service animals that is in our Member Area that I would highly recommend everyone join and print! There are lots of other helpful, printable documents in there as well. This pamphlet can help diffuse situations because you can keep some on hand and use the pamphlet as a tool when addressing people who may be trying to sneak their pets into your establishment.

I have worked many years in the food industry and have experienced, like we probably all have, some serious, contentious situations involving people bringing their animals into facilities. It unfortunately can create emotionally heated and uncomfortable situations.

So, let’s look at the rules. Our food code in the State of Montana does not allow for animals to be in retail food establishments. Where the confusion arises or the issues arise is with the difference between emotional support animals and service animals. Animals whose sole purpose of providing emotional support are not granted access in retail food establishments. Oftentimes people will ask me if service animals are required to have documentation or a vest. They are not required to have papers, documents, or a vest.

If you have someone bring an animal into your retail food establishment the questions that you are allowed to ask are:

(1) Is the animal a service animals required because of a disability.

(2) What work or task has the animals been trained to perform.

Staff cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog* demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.

If you see an animal in a retail food establishment and you wish to file a complaint you can contact your local environmental health office.

For more information on how to navigate service animal questions join our Member Area and print out that pamphlet! Also, comment below if you have questions, comments, or stories!