Safety and Sanitation

So today happened to be my last day of class. Thanks to our impacted community college situation here in lovely California, the one and only class I could get into without completely giving up my work schedule [as rare as those hours may be...] was a two week crash course on everything safety and sanitation related. I now know more than I ever dreamed of wanting to know about foodborne illnesses, rodent infestations, and what to do when the crap hits the fan. Literally. Here are a few gems I gleaned from this enlightening class, free of charge. I know, I know, you're thinking "FREE? Wow!"... call me crazy but I'm in a generous mood.

Here it goes. Paying close attention?

1. BEFORE eating at a restaurant, go check out the bathrooms. Seriously. No matter HOW many times you've been there or how great the food may seem, if the bathroom is nasty or just plain ignored by any and all cleaning products there is a very, very high probability the kitchen looks the same. Also note if the bathrooms are co-mingled between customers and employees. In a perfect world the employees have their own space... after all, who really knows if every single guest washes their hands properly [or *shudder* at all]? Even if employees do, the customers who do not contaminate everything for everyone.

2. Flies are SO much more intelligent than you think. I mean, have you every watched them? They wait [sometimes for hours] right outside your door for the moment it opens just the slightest crack and then BAM! They SWOOP right in and it takes ages to get them out. Or at stores like Costco they wait for humans to come along and shield them from the air curtain [strong gust of air whenever you walk through the main doors..it's a method of keeping out pests] and scurry along the floor for as long as it takes them to get safely inside. This fun fact was compliments of the Chef teaching our class. Apparently he has spent some time observing this...

3. DVC really is a great school. Can you imagine being in an environment when everyone there is actually there by choice?! What a novel concept! I didn't think it was possible before now. I guess my days of forced and obligatory schooling is over. It's simply refreshing.

4. Mop your floors every night. Trust me. Think of what you do in the kitchen...then imagine all that on the floor. So then what else is on that floor? Saaay your feet? So when you leave the kitchen you're tracking all that stuff throughout your house. Ew.

5. This class will make you a full-fledge germaphobe. As if I needed help with that.

6. There is this thing called the Temperature Danger Zone [TDS but I'll spare you the abundant list of acronyms]. It is the area between 41ºF and 141ºF in which bacteria grows and contaminates food leading to endless problems [one being a deathly illness]. I didn't know about this and imagine my horror when I went to check the temperature of our fridge and found it 8ºF over the safe limit! It was a close call. This also applies to cooking temp/time, cooling temp/time, blah blah blah. Pretty much everything concerning food.

7. Thermometers need to be calibrated on a regular basis. I did this tonight and found that it was 20º off! Not too helpful then, is it? :) This can be done one of two ways...

A. filling a glass with crushed ice, then filling it to   
the brim with water. Let it sit for a second then 
stick the thermometer in [BTW these methods are for 
bi-metalic stemmed thermometers only] and adjust the 
calibration nut to read 0ºF. Super easy.

B. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil and insert 
thermometer making sure the tip does NOT touch the 
bottom or sides. Then adjust the calibration nut to 
212ºF [This being the temperature of boiling water. 
Which is what your water should be doing.] Also super 
easy.

Both methods work the same, it's just a matter of preference and how much time you want to invest I suppose.


So there you have it. A quick list  of tips, tricks, and things to look out for. No need to thank me. I'm just doing my job of being a serve-safe foodhandler... who will never get over how strange that term sounds.