Sanitation Insanity

One of the first things that struck me about my new internship is the fixation on cleanliness and sanitation.  Welcome back to the good ol' USA, outbreaks of E. Coli and all.  Still, I'm glad that we have such high sanitation standards here.

In France, I was amazed at how relaxed their standards were, both at school and during my one-week stage at the restaurant.  Eggs aren't refrigerated.  All our ingredients were loaded onto the same trays when we divided them up for students, so your raw chicken would probably end up nestled cosily next to the vegetables you were serving as a garnish.  Your single cutting board was used for everything.  The dishwashers (actual people) didn't use machines or sanitation devices- it was hand-scrubbing all the way.  We were lucky if there was hot water, sponges, or dish soap.  In fact, we were amazed when all three were present!

At the restaurant, things were slightly better but still gross.  It would probably be very difficult to make myself eat at that restaurant knowing what went on downstairs.  It wasn't filthy by any means, but not enough precautions were taken, and my bout of food poisoning in Paris really made me wary.

Fast forward to what I do now.  I use so much plasticware it makes me guilty.  But we use Ziploc bags, plastic containers, plastic wrap, gloves, and disinfectant to our hearts' content.  I mise a lot in disposable plastic containers when things need to be prepared the night before.  Leftover food is always stored in the new plastic containers- we never wash them or reuse them.

The dish room has a nice sanitation machine that cleans and sterilizes, producing spotless hot dishes.  We use hot, soapy water to wipe down our stations, then spray sanitizer over the surface.  The grates over the burners are washed every night, and we clean under them to make sure everything is clean and shiny.  The two resident kitchen assistants go over the stainless steel surfaces with spray every night and ensure that everything is polished and not sticky.

There is hand soap at every sink.  Any leftover food is always bagged or contained, then marked clearly with contents and date.  The walk-in is well-organized, with chicken on the bottom rack, then beef and pork next, fish and cured products at the top.  If you think about it, it makes sense- any accidental drippage that may come down will contaminate other products, so you should put the meat with the highest chance of bacteria on the lowest rack.

The simplest things amaze me.  As interns, we put away the groceries that come in.  Special care is always taken to put the newest items in the back.  For example, if a new bag of onions needs to be added to the onion bucket, we empty the existing bucket out temporarily, place the new onions at the bottom, then cover it with the old ones so that those are used first.  This applies to every other ingredient.  It makes so much sense, yet at LCB, we constantly received rotten produce because no one took the time to do that.  It still boggles my mind that a school which uses so much produce in one day, especially mirepoix, manages to give its students rotten carrots and shallots.  Go figure.

Yesterday I bagged some leftover rice in a small Ziploc bag at home.  My right hand instinctively reached for the blue Sharpie that I keep in my chef's jacket at work.  Not having the Sharpie there was strange, as was not marking the contents of the bag and labeling pretty much everything I touched.  In France they would have just laughed at me for marking things.  And who uses plasticware en France?  I don't care- hand me a Sharpie and a bottle of disinfectant!

Bon appétit!

Comments

[sam]

I never refrigerated an egg in my life til I came to America. But funnily enough the Frenchman makes me do it here. He wont eat the eggs unless I keep them in the fridge. I checked with harold McGee and he said it was better to keep them that way so now I comply. Reluctantly.Because it is not the wy I was brought up.

That was a very insightful post, thank you for sharing.

[Joe]

Reminds me of George Orwell's tales of working in Parisian restaurants in "Down and Out in London and Paris". He said the more expensive the restauraant, the more likely the waiter ran his hands through his dirty hair before handling your dinner. But I can't help but wonder if the US isn't overly germophobic. The human body evolved very efficient protective mechanisms before food storage was perfected. I guess it comes down to probability. Eating a nonrefrigerated egg is not certain to make you sick, but it does increase the odds.

[LPC]

Okay, now you've scared me... the chicken beside the veges?? I can't believe they still use elbow grease to scrub things clean. Urgh... am going out tonight for dinner. Let's hope they keep things clean there.

[Pyrmont_boy]

What about before all this plastic and detergent was invented? How did we survive then? I think you should give some thought to whether the massive amount of plastic and detergent you appear to use is a sustainable environmental option. In regard of your time in France, you probably got food poisoning because your immune system was weakened by foreign bugs, which is normal when travelling. Joe (above) makes some good insights too.

[Chez Christine]

Pyrmont boy: I know that the amount of plastic & detergent I use at work is NOT a sustainable environmental option which is why I said I feel guilty. I'd like to talk to the people in charge to change the disposable things we use.

As for food poisoning, I was already in France for 7 months before getting sick, so it was definitely not because my immune system was weakened. In fact, I've traveled in Asia and other parts of Europe before without getting food poisoning, so it was definitely actual food poisoning versus a mild bug that my system couldn't handle. Plus, I love street food and have never gotten sick from that either!

[Pyrmont_boy]

Okay fair enough. I guess it doesn't take any plastic to separate the raw chicken from the vegies. PS I am a big fan of your blog!

[Tony Clooney]

In order to protect our food supply, we must address vulnerability gaps in our current system at any point along the distribution chain up to the consumer that would allow accidental contamination of fresh produce.

I am well aware of what they are and can provide solutions to help prevent this ongoing problem.

I spent fifteen years as an Executive Vice President for a major terminal business on the East Coast. My primary responsibility was purchasing millions of dollars in California vegetables a year, including Mexico during the winter.

I know how this works.

I notified the CDC in late 2003 that green onions were the likely source of the hepatitis A outbreak and that they were from Mexico, several days before the FDA banned the importation of green onions into the United States.

Over the years I have followed the recent contamination of tomatoes and more recently spinach. My knowledge is based on experience and facts.

Specific aspects of the industry are severely outdated.

The Federal Government must update regulation of the industry to properly empower the USDA.

Nobody really seems to want to do anything to correct the current situation. A series of articles would be a good start.

lsjaguar400@yahoo.com