BY WILLIAM GUNDLACH, Ill, CFSP

It’s Summer again, with mosquitos, rain, good weather and Hurricane Season — so what do we do with our food supply when the lights go out? Well if you are in the hospital food business you have a back up generator plant up and running in short order and all systems are good to go. 

But whatabout other large food purveyors?

Well unfortunately during the last several storms, even very large grocery stores in South Florida didn’t have back up power. And in New Orleans, hospitals, stores, schools, and neighborhoods were flooded so if there were working beck up generators prior to the flood, they didn’t work following it. This lack of preparation may be changing, but it didn’t take long for everyone to realize that nothing was going to be back to normal for a long time. That meant that without refrigeration, food was going to spoil and we were going to be throwing a lot of product out.

There are several issues with un-refrigerated food. It becomes garbage in about four hours once the above 41 degrees (F) or 5 degrees (C) has been breached. A good rule of thumb is four hours, “throw it out”, based on time criteria. This applies to all refrigerated food products and/or other food items that may be in-Dry Storage like oats, rice and grains which were in air conditioning and were held at 50% to 60% humidity with 50 to 70 degrees (F) temperature and the product was fine, but now they are hot, moist and spoiling. Bread too will last only a couple of days once opened in warm temperatures and high humidity similar to rice, oats and other grains. These grains must be kept dry and cool and without power that is difficult to do.

In walk-in freezers, food is normally kept at O degrees (F) or colder. Without backup generation, the food product warms up in the freezer. It is necessary to keep the freezer door closed as long as possible; but again, once the temperature range goes over 41 degrees (F) the food only has about four hours before it also must be discarded.

No one wants to throw out what we once knew as perfectly good food, but it must be done to prevent an unfortunate illness — all brought on by a lack of power, no refrigeration and warm temperatures. After hurricane Wilma, a restaurant employee in Fort Lauderdale took meat out of the restaurants walk-in freezer, after the power had been out for several days and put it in the garbage. Although the vacuum packed meat was still cool, it was not cold enough to prevent bacterial growth and the food certainly was not below 41 degrees so the decision to throw out the meat was the correct one.

However, the problem occurred when he took the meat out of the garbage, took it home and ate it. Even though he cooked it to the correct temperature where the bacteria may have been killed-by the cooking, there are several types of bacteria which release toxins creating an intoxication food bome bacteria. The toxins released by the bacteria made him violently ill with Clostridium Botulinum. He was lucky because Clostridium Botulinum can be deadly. When he got out of the hospital about a week later, although the lights were back on his refrigerator contained a pile of rotten meat.

Moral of the story, “Be Prepared”. “

Safe Food Systems, Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, with a combined experience of more than 80 years food service and food industry expertise, is committed to the health and safety of the food service industry and its patrons. Safe Food Systems offers training, instruction and examinations to satisfy state mandated food safety certification requirements for food service workers and managers. For more information, cal! (866) 564-8993 or visit http://safefoodsystems.com.

South Florida Hospital News June 2008       www.hospitalnews.org

What is an unpasteurized egg? It means neither the shell nor the inside of the egg have been pasteurized, and by FDA Food Code this type condition of an unpasteurized egg is called a “Raw” egg,. An uncooked egg is called “uncooked”, but an unpasteurized egg is considered to be a ”Raw” egg. Most Pasteurized eggs are only pasteurized on the outside of the egg, however…

There is a new process that pasteurizes the eggs on the inside as well as the out side and for use of uncooked eggs in menu items such as Caesar Salad, Bearnaise Sauce and other culinary uses. These new Pasteurized Shell eggs can be used for any egg requirement in any recipe without worry of Salmonella.  Ask your supplier or your grocer about getting these type of
eggs.

There are several ways to prevent the out break of Salmonella in your facility allowing you to use the eggs you currently have in stock. When buying regular pasteurized eggs, they are pasteurized on the outside only so you will need to cook them thoroughly so there are no runny parts in your eggs. Wash your hands. Hard boil your eggs, fry them and or scramble them but again make sure that they are well cooked. Wash your hands. No Sunny side up eggs, no poached eggs and never use unpasteurized or raw eggs in puddings, icing, sauces or dressings where an uncooked egg is called for in the recipe instead, either cook them well or buy the new Pasteurized Shell eggs. These eggs which are bacteria free are pasteurized on the inside and the outside of the egg.

Also remember, above all wash your hands and keep your work area clean and sanitized thereby avoiding the potential of cross contamination.

Recalled eggs are not currently found in Florida, nevertheless, here are the recall numbers:  They are packed in cartons of 6,12, and 18. The Plant numbers are P1026, P1413, and P1946, followed by “Julian” dates ranging from 136 to 225. The stamps are found on the end of the cartons. They have been sold under the Ralphs and Albertson brand, Lucerne, Mountain Dairy,
Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillsdale, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms, and Kemps.

If you find you have these eggs, return them in original carton to the store for a refund and if you found that you have bought those eggs, you “should not eat them”!

Sources:  USDA, FDA, Keen Observers, Davidson’s Safest Choice Eggs, Safe Food Systems, Inc.

William Gundlach III, Safe Food Systems

www.safefoodsystems.com

Registration:  www.safefoodsystems.com online or call 1-866-564-8093.

For more information on Responsible Vendor Training go to www.rvtflorida.com.

Approved by the Florida Department of Business and Regulations.