Kembudo-Kai Kempoka
Senior Master
OK. I overheard a training discussion today between a regional manager of a fast food chain, and the store managers he governs, regarding upcoming changes in food handling policies. Quality experience fopr the consumer, while minimizing profit loss through waste. A processes called "tempering" food.
Let me start by saying I struggled with microbiology & pathology in school, at first: I lucked into a private study circle, headed by a guy who worked nights at a path lab, growing cultures and harvesting assays. He tutored us by dragging us around to different places, swabbing samples, then going back to the lab to grow them in agar we helped prepare. Mind blowing, the number of bugs out there, and how prolific they are under warm, moist circumstances with just a little bit of something to snack on while they grow.
So to the discussion I overheard...it seems someone did some research on how happy we are with our burgers, and the temperature of the burger when we get it. Generally, the warmer, the better. The research also concluded that putting condiments on the burger that were out of the fridge lowered the overall temp of the burger 20 degrees by time of consumption. So the solution? Leave stuff out of the fridge for several hours to allow it to come to room temp before using it. Moreover, don't put it back in the fridge; leave it out until a certain point (depending on the food stuff), then toss it and replace it with another, fresher one that has been left out 2 hours to come to room temp.
Some items, according to the regional trainer, can be left out for 48 hours before being discarded. Others, 8 hours (after the additional 2 used to bring it to room temp). Others, 7 days. Lettuce, ortega chili's, mayo and mustard...all these things were discussed in the training, each with a different set of rules around when it went bad, and when it should be tossed. An elaborate method of placing color coded dots on new arrivals to the cooks line, and similar colored dots on a schedule declaring WHEN the marked item should be thrown out was disseminated at this meeting.
This means...
1. Some bunch of food science guys were contracted to see how long you could leave something out before it got so populated by little guys (bacteria our bodies don't like), that it could no longer safely be consumed. They actually determined a safe level of pathogen ingestion; up to some number of bugs X, it's OK to eat. Above X, toss it. This research inevitably required using averages, and tossing out statistical outliers...i.e., what is the average room temp? (what if today is hotter?) How long before the lettuce, at this average room temp, becomes dangerous? (this time would be shortened in warmer climates, with higher humidity, because the bugs would reproduce faster). Colder days and warmer days get averaged in, but then kinda swept to the side in final reports. The experiment would also have operated under safe food handling assumptions, which we will see can't always apply.
2. Some bunch of management geniuses decided this required training for the folks that prepare our food, and manage it while it awaits preparation and consumption.
3. This same bunch of management geniuses figgered that, the subsistence-level minimum wage workers who barely have a functional grasp of English and math were fit to manage the elaborate time management plan around how long food "tempers" (that's the new buzz word for this room temp thing).
OK. How many here have gotten food poisoning from fast food places in the past? Places that did not use this neato method, because it didn't exist? Let me clue you in...if you ate at a fast food, and found yourself later with a tummy-ache and (likely) the trots, you've had some food poisoning. You ate enough bacterium, that the toxins they leave behind caused your body to yell "eject! eject!", and started the process of building a case against the offending food, and eliminating it from the body.
In my study group, we swabbed kitched surfaces at fast foods and nicer restraunts, as well as the usual phone booth handles, computer keyboards, and public toilets. Some of the most rapid and unpleasant cultures were off the FOOD PREPARATION SURFACES OF THE FAST FOOD CHAINS! The conclusion was gross, and simple: You were at less risk of harming yourself by eating a salad tossed in a bus depot urinal, then if you ordered a salad at a fast food.
Why? we pondered...well, it doesn't all just start with hand washing...which, despite signs and frequent reminders, many fast food employes just don't do. The food itself has to pass through processing, from the farm to your serving tray. In those processes, it is exposed to many wee little critters. Cross-contamination from critter-rich foods to previously "clean" foods is also inevitable. Moreover, prep kitchens are warm, and humid (think about the steam, oil, and heat coming from the burger grill): Heaven for bacteria. Now, add the moisture provided by a wiping towel...I have sat and watched as a fast food employee wiped first the trash receptacles, then the pay counter, then the food preparation surfaces with the same towel...burgers prepared on germs just wiped out of the bottom of a stinky trash can. Standard operating procedure?
Of course not...which brings me to my point. Nothing is idiot proof: There will always be a bigger and better idiot to prove the proof incorrect. So now, to keep our burgers warmer while they wait, they have decided to use pre-contaminated foods that have sat out for 48 hours before being jettisoned, trusting that the line cook in charge either gives a crap, or even knows how to tell the 48 hours have come and gone. Having been through micro & path...do you want mayo that is on it's 47th and 1/2 hour? What about the 49th hour, ball dropped because they were in a lunch rush?
This practice is a terrible idea, and unfortunately, the food poisoning most get from food vendors isn't gonna kill you...just make you feel lousy for awhile 'til you kick it out the rear exhaust pipe. Which means no one is going to wrongfully die, causing lawsuits to reverse this absurd practice. We're stuck with it.
Next time you get a burger and fries, enjoy your meal. Because no matter how many people are in the room with you, you are not alone. There are hundreds of thousands of little people on your lettuce, onions, mustard, catsup & mayo, and they were all sharing your meal well before you got to it.
Bon Appetite!
Dr. Dave
Let me start by saying I struggled with microbiology & pathology in school, at first: I lucked into a private study circle, headed by a guy who worked nights at a path lab, growing cultures and harvesting assays. He tutored us by dragging us around to different places, swabbing samples, then going back to the lab to grow them in agar we helped prepare. Mind blowing, the number of bugs out there, and how prolific they are under warm, moist circumstances with just a little bit of something to snack on while they grow.
So to the discussion I overheard...it seems someone did some research on how happy we are with our burgers, and the temperature of the burger when we get it. Generally, the warmer, the better. The research also concluded that putting condiments on the burger that were out of the fridge lowered the overall temp of the burger 20 degrees by time of consumption. So the solution? Leave stuff out of the fridge for several hours to allow it to come to room temp before using it. Moreover, don't put it back in the fridge; leave it out until a certain point (depending on the food stuff), then toss it and replace it with another, fresher one that has been left out 2 hours to come to room temp.
Some items, according to the regional trainer, can be left out for 48 hours before being discarded. Others, 8 hours (after the additional 2 used to bring it to room temp). Others, 7 days. Lettuce, ortega chili's, mayo and mustard...all these things were discussed in the training, each with a different set of rules around when it went bad, and when it should be tossed. An elaborate method of placing color coded dots on new arrivals to the cooks line, and similar colored dots on a schedule declaring WHEN the marked item should be thrown out was disseminated at this meeting.
This means...
1. Some bunch of food science guys were contracted to see how long you could leave something out before it got so populated by little guys (bacteria our bodies don't like), that it could no longer safely be consumed. They actually determined a safe level of pathogen ingestion; up to some number of bugs X, it's OK to eat. Above X, toss it. This research inevitably required using averages, and tossing out statistical outliers...i.e., what is the average room temp? (what if today is hotter?) How long before the lettuce, at this average room temp, becomes dangerous? (this time would be shortened in warmer climates, with higher humidity, because the bugs would reproduce faster). Colder days and warmer days get averaged in, but then kinda swept to the side in final reports. The experiment would also have operated under safe food handling assumptions, which we will see can't always apply.
2. Some bunch of management geniuses decided this required training for the folks that prepare our food, and manage it while it awaits preparation and consumption.
3. This same bunch of management geniuses figgered that, the subsistence-level minimum wage workers who barely have a functional grasp of English and math were fit to manage the elaborate time management plan around how long food "tempers" (that's the new buzz word for this room temp thing).
OK. How many here have gotten food poisoning from fast food places in the past? Places that did not use this neato method, because it didn't exist? Let me clue you in...if you ate at a fast food, and found yourself later with a tummy-ache and (likely) the trots, you've had some food poisoning. You ate enough bacterium, that the toxins they leave behind caused your body to yell "eject! eject!", and started the process of building a case against the offending food, and eliminating it from the body.
In my study group, we swabbed kitched surfaces at fast foods and nicer restraunts, as well as the usual phone booth handles, computer keyboards, and public toilets. Some of the most rapid and unpleasant cultures were off the FOOD PREPARATION SURFACES OF THE FAST FOOD CHAINS! The conclusion was gross, and simple: You were at less risk of harming yourself by eating a salad tossed in a bus depot urinal, then if you ordered a salad at a fast food.
Why? we pondered...well, it doesn't all just start with hand washing...which, despite signs and frequent reminders, many fast food employes just don't do. The food itself has to pass through processing, from the farm to your serving tray. In those processes, it is exposed to many wee little critters. Cross-contamination from critter-rich foods to previously "clean" foods is also inevitable. Moreover, prep kitchens are warm, and humid (think about the steam, oil, and heat coming from the burger grill): Heaven for bacteria. Now, add the moisture provided by a wiping towel...I have sat and watched as a fast food employee wiped first the trash receptacles, then the pay counter, then the food preparation surfaces with the same towel...burgers prepared on germs just wiped out of the bottom of a stinky trash can. Standard operating procedure?
Of course not...which brings me to my point. Nothing is idiot proof: There will always be a bigger and better idiot to prove the proof incorrect. So now, to keep our burgers warmer while they wait, they have decided to use pre-contaminated foods that have sat out for 48 hours before being jettisoned, trusting that the line cook in charge either gives a crap, or even knows how to tell the 48 hours have come and gone. Having been through micro & path...do you want mayo that is on it's 47th and 1/2 hour? What about the 49th hour, ball dropped because they were in a lunch rush?
This practice is a terrible idea, and unfortunately, the food poisoning most get from food vendors isn't gonna kill you...just make you feel lousy for awhile 'til you kick it out the rear exhaust pipe. Which means no one is going to wrongfully die, causing lawsuits to reverse this absurd practice. We're stuck with it.
Next time you get a burger and fries, enjoy your meal. Because no matter how many people are in the room with you, you are not alone. There are hundreds of thousands of little people on your lettuce, onions, mustard, catsup & mayo, and they were all sharing your meal well before you got to it.
Bon Appetite!
Dr. Dave
