| The "prep sink"
We observe that Laura washes her hands and puts on gloves before cleaning the vegetables in the prep sink.
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| Laura washes her hands. |
Laura puts gloves on. |
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Laura washes ready to eat vegetables.
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Laura washes the vegetables carefully because they are "ready to eat," which means they will be served raw.
She is using a two compartment prep sink. Only food preparation takes place in this sink, and she will wash and sanitize it after each use.
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This sink has an indirect drain.
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We verify that this sink has an "indirect drain," which means an air gap between the sink drain line and the sewer drain.
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Key food safety point: According to regulation, food service equipment with a drain must have an "indirect drain," making it impossible for sewage to back up into it. Food prep sinks, dishwashers and ice machines should also have indirect drains. |
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Alex is the lead Line Cook.
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The prep and cook line.
Alex will prepare and cook the chicken (the product we have chosen to follow through the different preparation steps that occur in this kitchen). Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points - HACCP.
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Alex and Laura work in separate areas of kitchen.
Laura cleans and sanitizes the prep area after each use.
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Cross-contamination prevention.
We observe that Alex is cutting chicken on one colored cutting board while Laura cuts the peppers on a different colored board.
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Key food safety point: Alex explains how they make sure cutting boards are safe. |
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To minimize the risk of cross contamination, in other words of passing the bacteria from one food onto another, one color cutting board is always used with vegetables, another color with meats, fish and poultry. |
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Both the counter surfaces and cutting boards will be washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use. |
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Alex washes his hands after working with raw meat.
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We observe Alex washing his hands after working with raw chicken and before going on the cook line. This is a good practice! |
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Alex prepares chicken. Correct temperature for cooking poultry is important.
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Alex is finishing off skewered chicken for one order, and baking chicken halves for another. We ask Alex to check the temperature of the chicken he's baking. |
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Alex checks the temperature of baked chicken.
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Key food safety point: The correct final cook temperature for chicken is 165° F, but most people don't like the texture of poultry at that temperature. Here, they serve poultry at 180° F. At 165° F, any bacteria that could cause food borne illness has been killed. |
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Alex checks the temperature of the rice.
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Earlier we saw the cooked rice cooling in the walk-in refrigerator. Now it has been reheated in the oven. We ask Alex to check the temperature to assure the rice is at 165° F before he puts it into the steam table.
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Key food safety point: Alex explains how they make sure cutting boards are safe.
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This rice has reached 165° F, and is therefore considered safe. To keep it safe, it needs to be kept at 140°F until served. In order to be certain the steam table is hot enough, the cooks will check the temperature of the food on the line at regular intervals. |
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Temperature logs are used to monitor and record cooking and holding temperatures.
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Temperature logs and taking the temperature
The Main Street Dinner House keeps temperature logs which monitor and record cooking and "holding" temperatures (temperatures of food being kept hot or cold before serving). Keeping logs help establishments with complex recipes assure their safe food handling systems are working. Logs also can quickly point out problems should they arise.
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Key food safety point: How the food temperature is measured is very important. |
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The most accurate procedure is to put the thermometer into the geometric center of the product. |
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If it's a piece of meat, fish or poultry, make sure the thermometer is in the middle.
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If it's something like a pot of beans, rice or thick soup, stir it well and then put the thermometer in as far as it will go.
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If we find a potentially hazardous foods in the "temperature danger zone," it's an automatic red critical violation. We would record the food and its temperature on the inspection form.
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