This evening I'm giving a presentation to the Council of Independent Managers at The Madison Club. I thought I'd share one of the topics I'll be discussing here on the blog: How can we ALL be more safe in our OWN kitchens? How safe is your kitchen? What grade would I give it if I came and did a private health inspection? The FDA estimates that there are about 48 million cases of foodborne illness annually –that's 1 out of 6 Americans getting sick each year. These illnesses result in an estimated 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths every year. That means 60 people in each of our 50 states will die this year just from something they ate! Here are the top priorities restaurants have in place, and the ones YOU should too, to keep your family safe? #1 Wash Your Hands (before, between & after prep) Wash your hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food and after using the bathroom, changing diapers, sneezing, handling pets, handling raw meat, smoking, eating or basically touching anything besides the food you ...
The best and quickest way to cool your food is using an ice water bath. If you don't have access or room in your food prep sink, use ice wands...and LOTS of them! Stir your food frequently and check the temperature every hour. You need to get your food out of the "Danger Zone" as quick as possible to prevent bacterial growth. Your food must reach 70 degrees within 2 hours (once it dips below the "hot holding" temperature of 135 degrees). You then have an additional 4 hours to get the food down to 41 degrees. Once you get a system down and know how long it takes to cool your food just use that system every time and you will avoid dangerous slow cooling procedures and bacterial growth.
