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Time and Temperature Abuse
By PK | June 17, 2008
Just how long has that food been there? Well, you just don’t know. I mean, what are the chances you’re going to walk in and actually see them put fresh food on the buffet or in a display case? If you ask, they’re going to tell you, “Oh, I just put that in there!”
I’ve worked in the Food Industry for over 25 years. You’re in the business to sell and while many businesses do have ethnics and codes they follow, bottom line is they don’t like waste. It cuts into the profits and after all, that’s why they’re in business. To make money.
In establishments where food is prepared ahead of schedule and on display for the “Buyer Beware”, you have to be the judge. Is it fresh? Take a look of some of these examples.
I went into a fast food restaurant one morning at 6am and ordered a sausage and biscuit. Dalton and I were traveling at the time and pulling an RV behind us. After getting back into the truck and onto the interstate, I unwrapped my breakfast only to discover I was trying to eat a ‘hockey puck’. So I’m thinking, it’s 6am, not later in the day, but 6am! Why are the biscuits hard? I began to think….was it a biscuit left over from yesterday? Yuck! It was impossible for us to turn around and ‘take it back’.
There were worse things I saw…like the time we walked into a convenient store and the hot dogs on the roller grill looked like they were wearing leather jackets, their skins all tough and leathery.
The bottle of latte that had an expiration date four months previously…
The food server who opened a can of vegetables, you know the ones…huge cans that could feed an army, and dumped its contents into the buffet to heat and later be served to the public. A steam table cannot heat the contents to the proper temperature of 165 degrees, like the veggies should be prepared. A steam table holds the temperature of the food, usually between the temp of 135 to 145. If they cranked up the steam table to 165, the rest of the food would shrivel up and die!
Those are all cases of Time and Temperature Abuse. Time and Temperature Abuse is one of the leading causes of food illness. I cannot stress that enough. Be a wise “Buyer Beware” and check the expiration code on the package. Look at the product carefully. Does it look fresh? Can you feel that it’s fresh? Can you smell it? Remember the phrase, ‘When in doubt, throw it out!’ or in this case, don’t buy it!
Many clerks or food servers are low paid and under-trained. When I was working in food industry management, one of my highest priorities was training. In my mind, you could never train enough. There were times I walked into a store that served prepared hot food and literally emptied the case asking the clerk, “Would you eat this?” I would roll my eyes to her response of “Well, no”.
My advice to you if you purchase something that you feel is time and temperature abused, bring it to the attention of management. Ask for a refund. After all, the ‘customer is always right’.
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Topics: Food Safety |
2 Responses to “Time and Temperature Abuse”
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June 24th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Nice website!!
June 24th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Thank you!!