Basic Food Hygiene
How cold is your fridge?
Yesterday I received an unnanounced visit by an environmental health officer. Two hours later and I was back in the kitchen for lunch service. The reason for the visit was a spot check on my food safety systems and how up to date my various checks are.
As a caterer I have to record every refrigerator and freezer temperature twice a day, any chilled and/or hot food prior to service, food delivery temperatures, daily cleaning schedules, maintanence reports, staff food temperatures, hygiene training and daily opening and closing checks for the kitchen in general. Cooking fits in somewhere in the middle.
I am all for stringent food safety checks, the environment agency have gone to a lot of trouble to improve the message that they themselves wish to put across and do a good job in policing establishments which require more testing than others. In years gone by we have had to change procedures from one visit to the next because the agency couldn’t agree on a legal requirement which in turn alienated the agency from a lot of self respecting chefs.
It was interesting to talk with my ‘EHO’ about the recent outbreak of the winter flu bug and how many who caught it immediately cried ‘food poisoning’. They now have a much quicker way of identifying each particular strain of salmonella and can determine if the outbreak has been caused by a caterer or the actual sufferer.
In a world of ‘no win, no fee’ claims it is all too easy to jump the gun and accuse an establishment of food poisoning. The fact is that most times the cause of the sickness has been down to the individual themselves prior to arriving at a hotel or restaurant. You know the sort, a four hour car journey to their hotel, eat the last pork pie or ham sandwich which has been in the back of the car since the early morning, eat at the hotel and vomit two hours later.
The problem for caterers is that how many people who have managed to give themselves food poisoning are actually going to admit it? It is far less embarrasing to blame someone else. What they don’t realise or care about is the potential damage they do to an establishment’s name and future success as well as the tarnishing of a chef’s reputation. We have to live with the possibility that something could happen and a resulting death is a real possibility. If an establishment has an outbreak which can happen through no fault of their own then their reputation is wrecked, it takes years to get it back. As for the chef, well he/she is almost finished whether they were to blame or not, it happened on their watch.
I am often asked by people outside of the profession if such and such is ok to cook, does it need to go in the fridge, should I defrost it etc. I have to say that I am staggered that more people don’t do serious harm to themselves given the type of questions I am asked. Does anyone ever check the temperature of the meat they have cooked, the pie they have reheated or the actual temperature of their fridge and freezer?
So spare a thought for the poor sod who has been accused of food poisoning when it was an airborn virus, a reheated Chinese takeaway from the night before or that sweaty ham sarnie. It’s not big and it’s not clever.
Miles,
Goodness me, how scary is that? I am one of those you allude to that has no idea of the temperature of the meat cooked etc. All I can say is that I live to tell the tale and am not aware of ever having poisoned myself or others. That said, we might be tougher than we think we are or just lucky.
I feel the burden of responsibility on your shoulders.
Cid will think of something how we can best be of help in your daily fight against the lurking bugs and ease your burden.
Elsie
February 13, 2008 @ 11:21 am
Elsie,
Lurking bugs in Miles’ fine eating establishment will find no home there…. not after we’ve been employed that is. Armed (quite literally) with our fur edged rubber gloves we’ll tea tree everything in sight. Then we’ll turn our attention to his lordship’s hands, giving them a thorough salt scrub and nail buff. We will mix our own cologne recipe and apply it, a dab behind each ear so that the general haze around him will deter almost anything
Cid
February 13, 2008 @ 12:07 pm
Miles
I know the local fish n chip shop used to be the subject of complaints regularly.
They were very clean and diligent, the EHO that used to follow up the complaint knew the score.
Invariably the complaint was lodged by a woman whose husband had been ‘poisoned’
In reality he’d drunk too much, had fish n chips on the way home and because he was subsequently sick told his wife it was a dodgy meat pie or something.
According to the EHO this sort of thing happens all the time.
I personally us a digital probe on all meat now. Great to avoid over-cooking but also interesting.
When pan frying chicken breasts which appear to be cooked the core temp struggles to get above 50 !
Rod
February 13, 2008 @ 12:13 pm
Cid,
Brilliant! I knew that enrolling you would not fail. If you have any of the preserved lemons left, they could be dabbed behind Miles’s ears, leaving a lovely scent wafting around the kitchen as he glides from pots to pans
Elsie
February 13, 2008 @ 2:46 pm
Rod,
Rooster at 50 degrees? That’ll sort someone’s diet out
Miles
February 13, 2008 @ 3:27 pm
Miles
absolutely, I’m giving up on pan frying them in olive oil - too risky !
Shame because I like diced chicken fried off with cajun seasoning and served with cous cous
Cheers
Rod
February 13, 2008 @ 3:45 pm