u/thatbytch7866

I’ve been doing this for about two years and still find the risk categories for food establishments confusing.

I have establishment which permit says their a CAT II but they have very extensive cooking and cooking of several TCS food items and some as CAT IV which basically just reheat two types of frozen TCS foods and discard the leftovers.

Idk if people who worked before me did this wrong or I’m just really confused myself and need more guidance lol.

I’m literally typing this as my trainee finishes his report. We are at a restaurant with a buffet and some of the bars are not adequate for hot holding.

PIC said they have turnover every 20-30 mins which I can literally see the food being quickly eaten by consumers and they’re constantly cooking more food.

TPHC would not be practical. We are having them adjust the equipment to hold hotter and coming to do a follow up.

The food had not been there long enough to discard and I believe the PIC when he says it’s only been there 30ish mins because we’re witnessing all the food being taken to eat very fast. Reheating a lot of these items would ruin their quality.

How would you handle this? I know it might not be exactly perfect but it seems ridiculous to make them reheat all this food or discard it. TPHC will not be practical so they won’t comply.

Some of the situations I come across just put me in such a dilemma 😭. I don’t want people eating unsafe food or enforce unpractical corrective actions they won’t follow. I want to ensure long term compliance with realistic solutions.

Buffets tend to be the most problematic things in this job besides food truck lol