r/healthinspector

I just had a former employee from a place call and make a complaint about everything they do there. It's the usual irate ex employee who just wants to complain because they got fired or left on bad terms.

However there is one complaint from this person that I've received from other people about this place. If they drop food on the floor, they keep it. Continue with cooking and serving. I have brought this up at the place before. Because I didn't see it, I feel like I can't do much beyond just talking about it.

They do a lot of fried food, so I guess they assume that high heat is going to kill anything. I've tried telling them it doesn't get rid of chemicals, dirt, or any other physical contamination.

How would you go about addressing this and getting it through their heads?

When you finish your inspections do operators/owners typically make you wait until there is no more orders to fill or the shift has slowed down to go over the report? If so how long do you normally wait, or are you willing to wait.
What are your procedures?

I do try to mitigate this from happening by going to places before they open or right when they open, or try to go during the non busy times.

Thanks

A colleague and I are having a debate about cold temperatures. Say a fridge goes down and the food inside is warming up. After how long would you need to throw out the food vs salvage it by moving it to another unit?

2 hours?

4 hours?

6 hours???

In addition to “nobody told me that before” does everyone get told “is that new?!”

I’m deadass say “un, no” lol

I am a new(ish) sous chef in North Carolina. We have a health inspection due any minute, and I am assigned to make sure we have all the signage posted that is needed in the kitchen. Here is what we have displayed so far:

• Three Sink compartments labeled.
• Reheating procedure for hot well leftovers
• Vomit, diarrhea cleanup procedures
• Flatware washing procedure
• Ware preparation procedures for both the three sink and the dish machine
• Holding temperature info
• Food-born illness info

Please let me know if I'm missing anything!

not suprised there is a sub for it. should have thought of it first

I'm not a health inspector, but I have been thinking of starting a home based food premise. I'm planning on preparing high-risk foods for markets and such(not on site dining.) However, I was wondering if a one and half sink would be okay for my kitchen to get registered. I'd clearly separate the two compartments and only each compartment for their respective purposes, I'd also clean them in between each use. If you were inspecting my kitchen, would this be an issue?

I'm struggling to find a pen that doesn't smudge or leak in my pocket/bag. I've tried numerous pens. As you know, our job often involves wet conditions .. we handwash a lot and sometimes paper towels arent readily available, other times we place our notebook/papers on a wet surface, or inspect events in rainy conditions.. etc. Please let me know the pens that you use and that work for you!! Thank you!!

I need to take my REHS exam within the next year or so, and I have no idea where to start with studying/preparing. Do people feel like online courses are worth it? Any tips are appreciated, I feel overwhelmed. I’m pretty familiar with food code, but everything else is iffy.

Applied for an Associate EHS position to start my trainee journey and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions/ guides to prepare for the online assessment portion of the application process?

Not sure what to expect, but ty in advance!