What's wrong with this picture?

12/01/22

These are actual photographs from different inspections in our county. Can you see what the problems are?

1. ↓ Raw chicken stored on the floor and ...

2. ↓ Knife ready for use?

3. ↓ Bean sprouts a bit over the load line.

4. ↓ Raw chicken stored in home improvement standard buckets.

5. ↓ Napkins and sanitation cloths in direct contact with food.

ANSWERS:

1. As it turned out the entire walk-in was 45F and they were required to discard lots of food. This chicken was from last night (exceeding 4 hours out of temperature) and was discarded too.

2. All knives need to be washed, rinsed, and sanitized prior to being stored for use. 'Nuff said.

3. ↓ When you germinate (grow) mung bean sprouts, you put them into warm water – it's ideal conditions for the bacteria to grow if they are present. Sprouts are hard to keep cold even when not 6 inches above the food safety load line because of the ambient air between them. I always encourage folks to keep them inside the cooler, not in an insert.

4. ↓ All food must be stored in certified food safe containers. This was an easy fix as there was plenty in-house and the product was moved immediately.

5. Linens intended for sanitation buckets or napkins for diners are not allowed for use with direct contact with foods. Linens are not considered to be used as an approved food contact surface since it isn't smooth and easily cleanable. In the photos we have napkins on top of lettuces, a sanitation cloth under lettuces, and napkins under both raw beef and raw chicken.

Under 3-304.13, linens and napkins have limitations for contact with food under and only allow linens to line bread baskets and changed after each guest.

That's all for this month, folks!