Visit from the Health Department

I think the glove rule is absurd. All of my bartenders and I are meticulous about washing our hands, I don't see how I could possibly comply with the glove regulation on a busy night when I've got to make 10 drinks for the server well and have 6 other orders for my guests in my head. I'm really not happy about this. I don't see how gloves make any difference at all over properly washed hands. And besides, I'd be totally creeped out sitting at a bar talking to some bartender that's constantly putting on a new pair of rubber gloves.

Yes- that'd creep me out too!

Deb

Crap. Ned, what are you using for cutting boards? Just something smaller? Mine are some sort of acrylic I think but are several years old. All this stuff is gonna hit us little businesses really hard. I have nothing against sanitation and safe food handling, but seriously, if something comes out of my kitchen and makes you sick, there's only one person who's responsible. My business, and reputation, is me.

[Robin Garr]

I have been wondering how the sushi establishments have dealt with this.

Virtually all sushi restaurants in the US use fish flash-frozen for this exact reason.

We have completely gotten rid of the long cutting boards we used to have on line in the kitchen. As soon as you get a "cut" in the cutting board or a spot melted by a hot pan, you are now required to dispose of said board.

A sander should solve the problem. Real deep cuts obviously will attract parasites.

We have completely gotten rid of the long cutting boards we used to have on line in the kitchen. As soon as you get a "cut" in the cutting board or a spot melted by a hot pan, you are now required to dispose of said board.

If you don't have those boards anymore, then how in the heck does your kitchen set up plates?

I have to get my every three year recertification in January. I'm glad this wont be as much of a shock to me as it is for others.
We have a HAACP plan at work because we are basically a manufacturing plant. I've been doing at lot of this stuff since I started at JCPS. Hand washing, gloves and hairnets are a very big deal. I also spend a large portion of my day with the required paperwork.
I'm having a hard time imagining how all of this is going to go over in small indie kitchens. When I was a working chef in restaurants, I barely had time to write down purveyor orders and prep lists, much less temp logs for every morsel of food I was preparing. I guess it all depends on how you "bond' with your inspector It really doesn't seem like there was a lot of notification about this. Heck, I heard a lot more about a proposed Trans-Fat ban that I did about updating the Health Regs. I think someone may have dropped the ball on letting everyone know.

We have a stainless steel line where we set up plates and just constantly clean, clean, clean. We have a few small boards that we use on certain stations and pantry but other than that we just set up with tongs, spatulas,etc.. to avoid food touching the line or using the boards. Kind of a pain. I too am up for recertification in January and have been pouring over all these guidelines. Our inspectors have been very helpful in cluing us in on the changes and how to come up to spec.

I took the training class at the HD yesterday and it isn't as bad as I'd been led to believe. Now, granted, I'm a one-woman operation and don't cook/serve any meat products, so I get a pass on some stuff. My cross contamination risks are pretty low, other than from hands to food transfer and my training for staff was completed yesterday.

First, cutting boards are OK if they're in good shape. The line between "good" and "throw it out" is completely at the discretion of the inspector, though. If there are cracks in the board, then trow it out. If there are "normal use" knife marks, no problem. If there are hundreds of knife marks to the point were it's hard to clean and sanitize the surface, well, time for a new one. I specifically asked about stains, since I work with dyes and the instructor said they weren't a particular problem as long as the board was sanitized. Melted spots from hot pans = throw it out.

Bleach is fine for sanitizing. The class provided all the temps and times for bleach as a sanitizer.

Gloves were the subject of several different conversations. One class participant wanted to know why "good clean American hands" were less acceptable than gloves from foreign sources that could come out of the box contaminated with who knows what. No answer for that.

The glove issue takes thought and planning. Last night I set up my work area and had to remember to get all the tools, plastic wrap, everything out and then wash my hands. For some reason I routinely wash everything (counters, hands) first, but then I grab the box of plastic film and then of course I need to remember to wash again.

The bare hands rules for RTE foods are not that onerous. I have to have a policy in place for RTE foods. For me that's gonna be fondant, decor items like sugar pearls (some pretty little) and sparkling sugar. You don't have to keep a log of each time you touch RTE foods (which would be a nightmare) with bare hands, just a protocol for how you're going to do it. Really, write it once and follow it.

For breakfast in the B&B, I cook everything to order so the rules are not unreasonable. We don't do hot holding, don't cool down product, do use tongs/gloves for toast, wipe the plate rims with a clean something. We use an unconscionable amount of paper towels around here.

I can see where this is going to be a complete re-think/re-training for larger operations, well larger than mine, but a lot of it is enforcing what we've all been taught. Where to store, how to store, don't temperature or time abuse foods, label and rotate your inventory, and as my beloved Sanitation teacher always said, "Wash yo hands, wash yo hands, wash yo hands."

There was a question about bald persons still being required to wear a hair restraint. Yes, you must wear a hair restraint. The instructor noted that a cap/doorag/etc was also to keep sweat from dropping into food.

All in all it was a good class.

Oh my, that was long.

Oh my, that was long.

But enlightening none the less. Thanks for posting.

Oh my, that was long.

As per the hairnet thing, I was told I had to wear a hairnet on my bald head to "keep the sweat out of the food." I kid you not. A hairnet? Seriously.

Not really an issue, since I am known for my decorative handkerchiefs, but certainly speaks to the thinking behind the rule.

Hairnets keep out the sweat? I quit wearing them here at NSC because they made my head HOT!
I instead bought a mesh top skull cap that I wear instead.

skull cap.jpg

To be fair the instructor for my class did specify that a doorag, skull cap or bandana was for controlling sweat.

Yet another reason I like a pastry kitchen. Other than during baking hours, it's normal temp or even cool.

All respect to those of you on the hot line.