Doing it right. Garlic in oil

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 garlic oil has been prepared so it is considered shelf stable. The garlic that infused this oil has been completely removed with several runs through cheesecloth.

↓ If garlic remains in the oil (raw or cooked), it is considered a PHF/TCS food and must be held 41F or less or 135F or greater with a 7-day shelf life.

2. ↓ Proper cooling taken up a notch. Here are 4-inch hotel pans, filled only halfway equaling 2 inches deep or a fairly dense tomato sauce. Additionally, this facility has set a timer to go off each hour until the sauce reaches 41F or less. The times and temperatures are also documented in a cooling log.

3. ↓ Now, this is a pasteurized egg! Many times I ask if pasteurized eggs are used and get a ‘Yeah, I think so.’ response. As you can see it is really easy to tell the difference. All pasteurized eggs I have come across commercially are stamped individually as seen below.

4. ↓ Several times in the last month I have found a freshly made sauce in sealed storage containers that had no heat/cooking step in the high 60s. Why? The cans of tomatoes are stored at room temperature. This facility has taken a preventative approach and stores cans of tomatoes that they need for the next batch of sauce in the walk-in cooler so they are starting the mixing process at about 38F. Now that’s some good thinking.

5. ↓ Time as a control for public health done right. Here are two separate containers of cooked and seasoned grains, properly time stamped for lunch service. One is 11:15 - 3:15 and the other one reads 11:20 - 3:20. Nice job, crew.