What's wrong with this picture?

2/01/23

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

1. ↓ Any thoughts on why these potentially hazardous foods (PHFs) are out of temperature?

2. ↓ Anything out of place here?

3. This facility is using time rather than temperature to control bacterial growth. We call this using a time as a control agreement for public health. Is the time stamp correct?

4. ↓ This is an acceptable way document the dates for items in a display case. How do the dates look to you?

5. ↓ That's a lot of raw poultry. Is it ok to thaw like this?

ANSWERS

1. Using pint and quart plastic containers are a popular practice as it keeps things organized and tidy. The problem we find time and time again is when the product is left in the containers and not emptied into an insert. As easily seen in this photograph, the only part of the container having any contact with the cold air of the refrigerator is the bottom and that is insulated by the plastic container. It is nearly impossible to keep the feta and yogurt 41F or less with a setup like this.

2. Knife storage. The knives on the mag strip are proper stored. The other knives stored behind the various pipes are not. Storage for knives must be in a location that is regularly washed, rinsed and sanitized. It would be hard to get behind those pipes to clean nightly, and currently not a practice here.

3. This hollandaise was time stamped to be safe out of temperature control for seven hours. The cook told me they never had any problems with it before … When holding a heat treated product out of temperature, the time as a control agreement is for four hours.

4. The dates are for 8 days rather than seven. You want to always include the day you make it as day number one.

5. There are three ways to safely thaw frozen foods. First is under cold running water, fully submerged. The second way is a refrigerator under temperature control. Lastly would be in a microwave.

That's all folks!