Questions from the Food Code Class 1. Question: I m interested in applying TPHC/TILT to the home delivered meals program. At what time would the start time begin for catered hot/cold food? Answer: Actually, it is not possible to have a Time as Public Health Control (TPHC) agreement with this program because under TPHC, the food has to remain under the same permitted establishment s control at all times. With the home delivered meals, the food is prepared in one permitted establishment (outside of our county, thus we do not have any jurisdiction over this establishment) and then served in another permitted establishment. 2. Question: Where do you buy chlorine test strips? Answer: Check with your food supplier, chemical supplier, or any establishment that carries restaurant supplies. We purchase ours online at Bailey s Test Strips and Thermometers (1-888-685-TEST). 3. Question: Will the parking lot at my restaurant on the furthest side be ok for the dumpster and grease pit? Answer: The outdoor storage surface for dumpsters, recyclable containers, and grease receptacles shall be constructed of nonabsorbent material such as concrete or asphalt and shall be smooth, durable, and sloped to drain. If your parking lot meets these requirements, it should be okay. 4. Question: Could you explain cold food storage? Answer: How you should arrange your cold food storage did not change from past requirements. You should continue to store your cold food according to the final minimum cook temperature of the foods (i.e. continue to store ready-to-eat foods above raw animal products such as beef/pork/chicken). However, the cold holding temperature requirement is changing. The new requirement will be 41 o instead of 45 o. While this will not be mandatory until January 1, 2019, we urge you to comply with this change as soon as possible. 5. Question: Could you please go over how eggs need to be cooked? Answer: This answer depends on how the eggs are to be cooked. If an individual egg(s) is cracked and prepared for immediate service (i.e. going directly to someone s plate), it must be cooked to 145 o F for at least 15 seconds. If the eggs are prepared to be held hot (i.e. breakfast buffet, steam table) then they must be cooked to 155 o F for 15 seconds. If your establishment pools eggs (crack several eggs in one large bowl for different orders) then these eggs must also be cooked to 155 o F for 15 seconds.
If you would like to give your customers the option to have their eggs cooked to order, or undercooked as in a sunny side up egg, you may do so as long as you provide a Consumer Advisory Disclosure and Reminder. However, if your establishment serves a Highly Susceptible Population (nursing home, hospital, school cafeteria, etc.) you cannot offer this option. If you have more questions about the Consumer Advisory please contact our office. 6. Question: I need to understand the food temperature change. Could you please explain the temp changes? Answer: There were slight changes made to both cooking and cold holding temperatures. Internal Cooking temperatures are as follows: 145 o F for 15 seconds Raw eggs cooked for immediate service; commercially raised game; meat* and fish* (*except as listed below) 155 o F for 15 seconds Injected meats; mechanically tenderized meats; comminuted meat (meat that has been ground); raw eggs cooked for hot holding or pooled eggs. 165 o F for 15 seconds Poultry; Wild game animals; Stuffed fish, meat, pasta, poultry; Stuffing containing fish, meat, poultry Please read the answer to Question #4 about the cold holding temperature change. 7. Question: Will the entire establishment be a 41 degrees or 45 degrees until full implementation or will each unit have its own limitations? Answer: The maximum temperature that the food in ANY of your cold holding units can be is 45 o. Your units may keep food either 41 o OR 45 o until January 1 st 2019; after January 1, 2019, it will be a violation if cold food is not held at 41 o or below. That being said, this WILL currently affect how long you can keep certain foods. Ready-to-eat, potentially hazardous foods can be kept for 7 days at 41 o and for 4 days at 45 o ; so if you have foods that are held at different cold temperatures due to how the units function you may have some food you keep for 4 days and other foods you keep for 7 days. 8. Question: Is the milk date on an original container ok? Answer: Usually, the milk date on the original jug/container is a sell-by date and must still be date-marked once it has been opened. It may be kept for 7 days if held at 41 o and 4 days if held at 45 o. If the milk, or any other potentially hazardous, ready-to-eat food is marked with an expiration or use-by date (not a sell-by date), you may not date-mark past that date. Example if the milk is marked with a useby date of 9/20 but your date-marking procedure says the discard/consume date is 9/22, you must still follow the 9/20 date for discard/consume/sell.
9. Question: Who needs to do the inspection for the external filter on the ice machine? Answer: Some facilities are already servicing and changing their own water filters. If you are not interested in performing this task yourself, try contacting someone who specializes in water treatment or ice machines. 10. Question: Are there any different rules for meat markets? Answer: No, meat markets are subject to the same regulations, but due to the nature of the establishment, there are several parts of the Food Code that may not apply to them. For instance, date marking may not apply since it is unlikely a meat market will have ready-to-eat, potentially hazardous foods. Meat markets also do not usually cook, hold food hot, or handle ready to eat foods, so many of the major changes will not affect them. Some* of the Food Code rules that will affect them include: a. Designating one or several PIC s (person in charge), which they may share with the deli (if in a grocery-store situation), and have them certified b. Developing an employee health policy c. Batch-washing their dishes in 110 degree water d. Taking steps to adjust the cold holding units to 41 by January 1 st, 2019 e. No rings/jewelry/painted or artificial nails f. Keeping wiping clothes in containers of sanitizing solution rather than sitting on a cutting board *This is not an all-inclusive list, just examples 11. Question: What is a foot candle? Answer: A foot candle (fc) is a unit used to measure the intensity/brightness of a light. We use this to make sure certain areas of a kitchen are bright enough so an individual can see all parts of the kitchen to be cleaned. Some areas have higher foot candle requirements than others because cleanliness is more of a concern. For example, a prep table must have 50 ft-c at the surface while a dry storage area only has to have 10 ft-c. 12. Question: Could you give more clarification of dating of foods? Answer: Date marking applies to Potentially Hazardous AND Ready-to-Eat Foods that will be kept more than 24 hours. Potentially hazardous foods are those that grow bacteria quickly (most things requiring refrigeration are potentially hazardous, for example-bread is not). Ready-to-eat foods have either been cooked already or are edible just as they are. You must mark the foods with either the date it was opened/prepared (or sliced, like a tomato) or the date the food will be consumed, sold, or discarded. Whatever method you choose, you must consistently apply this method throughout your establishment. If the food is maintained at 41 o, you may keep the food for 7 days; if the food is maintained at 45 o, you may keep the food for 4 days. If you add several ingredients together and they all have different date marks, the whole dish has the most limiting date-mark. After the time is up, the food must be
discarded or sold or consumed. If the food is frozen, the time stops while it is in the frozen state. You must indicate the frozen date on the date mark. 13. Question: Is there a way to get a copy of your slides? Answer: Yes, they have been posted on our web page. Check it out at: http://www.co.stokes.nc.us/health/index_files/envhealth.htm 14. Question: Could you explain the TILT (Time as a Public Health Control) agreement? Answer: TILT stands for Time In Lieu of Temperature; the new term we will use is Time as a Public Health Control. This is just another way to control the growth of unwanted pathogens in or on food. Rather than maintaining food at the required hot or cold temperature(s), food could be stored out of temperature control as long as it will be sold, consumed, or discarded at the end of its allotted time. If you are interested in obtaining a TPHC agreement for one or more of your menu items, you must first apply with our office (call us if you are interested in obtaining an application). There are different options when using TPHC, read the options below: A. Time without temperature control for maximum of 4 hours: 1. The food shall have an initial temperature of 41 or less (or 45 or less) when removed from cold holding temperature control, or 135 or greater when removed from hot holding temperature control; 2. The food shall be marked or otherwise identified to indicate the time that is 4 hours past the point in time when the food was removed from temperature control. 3. The food shall be cooked, served, or discarded, within 4 hours from the point in time when the food is removed form temperature control; and 4. The food in unmarked containers or packages, or marked to exceed a 4- hour limit shall be discarded. B. Time without temperature control for maximum of 6 hours (Cold foods only): 1. The food shall have an initial temperature of 41 F or less when removed from temperature control and the food temperature may not exceed 70 F within a maximum time period of 6 hours: 2. The food shall be monitored to ensure the warmest portion of the food does not exceed 70 during the 6-hour period 3. The food shall be marked or otherwise identified to indicate: i. The time when the food is removed from 41 or less cold holding temperature control, and
ii. The time that is 6 hours past the point in time when the food is removed from cold holding temperature control; 4. The food shall be: a. Discarded if the temperature of the food exceeds 70 F, or b. Cooked, served, or discarded within a maximum of 6 hours form the point in time when the food is removed from 41 or less cold holding temperature: and c. The food in unmarked containers or packages, or marked with a time that exceeds 6-hour limit shall be discarded. 15. Question: Please explain the items in the new regulations that are dated for the future (phase-in regulations). Answer: There are two phase-in regulations a. Person In Charge (PIC): The PIC must show proficiency in Food Safety by passing a proctored exam of an accredited program. A certified PIC must be present at the food establishment at all times of operation. A two point deduction will be taken on the inspection form if the PIC is not certified. However, no points will be deducted until January 1, 2014. b. Cold Holding change: The minimum cold holding temperature requirement will be 41 by January 1, 2019. 16. Question: How long can uncooked hot dogs be taken out of original packing and rewrapped to price for sale if kept in cooler? Answer: Hot dogs are considered a potentially hazardous, ready-to-eat food. Therefore, once the package is opened, they must be sold, consumed, or discarded within 4 days (if the cooler maintains food at 45 o ) or 7 days (if the cooler maintains food at 41 o or cooler) even if they have been wrapped again for individual sale. 17. Question: I understand the PIC must have serve-safe. If the certified person does not work in the kitchen but is in the building will that be okay? Answer: Yes a PIC can be in other parts of the building as long as he or she has supervisory and management responsibility and the authority to direct and control food preparation. 18. Question: Please explain about towels on cutting boards in bucket of sanitizer? Answer: 1. Cloths in-use for wiping food spills from tableware and carry-out containers that occur as food is being served shall be maintained dry and used for no other purpose. 2. Cloths in-use for wiping counters and other equipment surfaces shall be held between uses in an approved chemical sanitizer solution and laundered daily.
3. Cloths in-use for wiping surfaces in contact with raw animal foods shall be kept separate from cloths used for other purposes (and held between uses in an approved chemical sanitizer solution). 4. All wiping cloths mentioned above shall be free of food debris and visible soil. 5. Containers of chemical sanitizing solutions in which wet wiping cloths are held between uses shall be stored off the floor and used in a manner that prevents contamination of food, equipment, utensils, linens, single-service, or single-use articles. 6. Single-use disposable sanitizer wipes shall be used in accordance with EPAapproved manufacturer s label use instructions.