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How to meet restaurant health-code standards in your kitchen

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By Jacqui Boyle, Staff Writer 10:34 AM Saturday, July 9, 2011

Food safety and cleanliness are key ingredients to maintaining a healthy kitchen.

No one knows that better than local health departments charged with carrying out daily inspections of thousands of facilities each year, enforcing strict standards set by the state.

The majority of food establishments in Ohio are subject to at least two unannounced inspections annually, according to Jennifer House, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Health. That number may be even higher, based on a local department’s guidelines. If a food service does not correct critical violations in a timely manner, health departments have the power to suspend or even revoke a license.

Ohio’s food safety code does not employ a letter or number system to grade establishments on their inspections, and there are no requirements for a restaurant to post their inspection results for customers to view.

Dr. Catherine Adams Hutt, a consultant for the National Restaurant Association, said she doesn’t think it’s necessary for a state to require a restaurant to share their inspection results in their facilities, as one bad inspection may not represent the facility’s overall performance. Food inspection reports are public record, though, and they can be viewed at local health department offices, she said.

“I think it’s important that restaurants be prepared to be transparent about what they’re doing,” Hutt said. “If a customer wants to know how a restaurant fared in an inspection, that information should be readily available.”

In 2010 alone, Montgomery, Greene, Warren and Miami County health departments conducted more than 15,000 inspections and re-inspections of food service operations and retail food establishments.

A Dayton Daily News investigation found that the four main areas of concern for local health departments in kitchens around the Miami Valley are temperature control, cross contamination, cleanliness and hygiene.

“The average consumer could use these same main four concepts in their food handling in their home setting,” said Alan Pierce, bureau of general services supervisor for Public Health — Dayton & Montgomery County.

With that in mind, here are methods recommended by area health department directors and inspectors to help keep your kitchen in order:

Temperature control

Health inspectors say keeping hot foods hot and cold foods cold is key to preventing the spread of food-borne illnesses, including E. coli and salmonella.

“You shouldn’t be naive to think there aren’t bacteria in the food you eat,” said Aaron Fister, a registered sanitarian for Montgomery County. “There are.”

Here are key tips to ensure your foods are cooked and maintained at proper temperatures:

Cook vegetables at 135 degrees Fahrenheit or above; eggs and steak at 145 degrees or above; pork, beef and fish at 155 degrees or above; and chicken at 165 degrees or above. If you have an item with more than one raw food item in it, such as lasagna with pasta, vegetables and ground pork or beef, you should prepare it at 165 degrees or above. Cooked food should be reheated at 165 degrees.

If a food item has already been cooked and you’re just holding it before it is served, like stew in a crock pot before a party, it needs to be kept at 135 degrees or above.

Food left out at room temperature for more than two hours may enter the “danger zone” — temperatures between 40 and 140 degrees — when bacteria can multiply rapidly. “Make sure if you’re having a picnic, if the food needs to be refrigerated, don’t let it sit out for long time,” said Carrie Yeager, environmental health programs coordinator for the Warren County Combined Health District. “After four hours, it needs to be thrown away.”

Meats, dairies and starchy foods like rice should be kept at a temperature of 41 degrees or less. So, the temperature of your fridge should be at about 38 degrees, and never below 32 degrees.

Be sure to keep custards, cream pies and cakes with whipped-cream or cream-cheese frostings refrigerated. If refrigeration is not possible, do not serve them.

Thaw meats in your fridge, or by running them under cold water. You can also put partially thawed meat in the oven and continue the thawing process as you cook it.

Only defrost food in the microwave if you are going to cook it immediately. “Never thaw at room temperature on your counter,” said Deborah Leopold, director of environmental health for the Greene County Combined Health District. “What happens is the outside of the product begins to warm up much quicker then the inside, and bacteria will begin to grow.”

Always refrigerate or freeze meat, poultry, eggs and other perishables as soon as you get home from the grocery store. If you have to run other errands, be sure to bring a cooler with you to preserve these items.

Separate large amounts of leftovers into shallow containers for quicker cooling in the fridge. Put a label on those items so you can ensure you consume them before they go bad.

Only keep foods that spoil, like meats, dairies and starch foods like rice, for up to seven days, unless they are frozen. Meats shouldn’t be in the freezer for more than six months. Throw away bread and hard cheeses as soon as they begin to mold.

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