Doing it Right. Proper Separation of Raw Proteins

When we see operators using a successful procedure or creative preventive approach we want to share it with the rest of the community. Take a look at this month’s finds.

1. ↓ This big seafood house has a fabulous understanding and application of the proper separation of raw proteins. As you can see, there are cooked crawdad tails on the top sheet pan, raw scallops under that and raw shrimp under the scallops. So what’s the big kudos for? They undercook the scallops.

So even though the scallops could go under any other raw fish, they are putting it below the cooked protein and above all other raw proteins, since it will not be reaching the heat kill-step temperature of 145F of 15 seconds or more. This was also observed in the hotline cooler with Ahi (seared, undercooked) above all other raw seafood proteins. Yep, kudos!

2. ↓ A really nice example of time as a control for public health using the 4-hour timing rule. All items are time-stamped at 11:00am to be discarded at 3:00pm.

3. ↓ Proper cooling. Always a favorite of mine to share. Here is some soup that was still steaming at the time of inspection. These are four-inch hotel pans, filled up only halfway (to 2 inches) which is the best way to rapid cool in the walk-in with a thicker product. When cooling, once a product reaches 135F, active cooling must take place. This means that it is not OK to let your product ‘cool’ at room temperature after it has dropped to 135F.

4. ↓ Here is a rare find! These are ice sheets to be used in a typical cambro pan carrier/transporter under the cold pans of food. Because the carriers are insulated, many folks think that just putting cold food into a carrier will keep it 41F or less. Not the case. These sheets are frozen and then loaded into the transporters along with the cold product, to safely maintain cold temperatures during transport.

5. ↓ Properly stored ice wands. When you are freezing/storing an ice wand it needs to be protected from contaminants. This facility is wrapping them in plastic after being washed, rinsed and sanitized. Good job, Bryan and crew!

If you have any good food safety practices you think others might learn from or might duplicate, please email some photos and a short description.

Thank you all for prioritizing food safety in your food service.