What if a health inspector looked at your kitchen?

Food Network Fan · 12-16-2007, 12:33 PM

What if a health inspector looked at your kitchen?
By Bob Susnjara | Daily Herald Staff

Published: 12/15/2007 11:56 PM

How clean is your kitchen?
That clean? Really?
That's what I thought until I suggested a special restaurant-style Lake County Health Department inspection while I prepared a meal fit for special guests.
If you have a pet, a refrigerator not running at maximum efficiency or an inaccurate meat thermometer, you run the risk of food-borne illness.
Food-preparation flaws aren't tolerated in restaurants, but can be fairly common with home cooks.
That doesn't mean your holiday feast has to include a trip to the emergency room and be a disaster. Once you realize the problems exist, it's easy to make corrections and ensure your party is a success.
Here are some things I learned from health department food program specialist Pam Smith, who inspected my kitchen as part of a public education effort:
MORE HERE

Food Network Fan · 12-16-2007, 12:34 PM

I guarantee my cat is cleaner than some of the critters they have in commercial kitchens.

BerryBaby · 12-16-2007, 04:02 PM

That was interesting. Yes, I would bet my puppy is cleaner than people I know!

Must say my kitchen stacked up really well to the criteria on the list. Don't use a hand sanitizer in my kitchen or anywhere in the house. Just have one in my car for grocery shopping before and after.

Yes to the meat therometer as well. I only use the metal one and check it all the time for accuracy.

The puppy doesn't go in the kitchen very often at all, but I can't say she never does. She likes to lay in her crate and watch me from a distance.

Overall, I think I do really well with all the points mentioned. The fridge gets service about once every 6 months from a professional maintenance person.

It's good to be reminded of these things. Especially if you are cooking for guests.

Callisto in NC · 12-16-2007, 07:07 PM

I'd fail. I'm a single mom, I work 50 hours a week, I have a teenage who never helps, and (currently) 8 cats (four kittens from a "last ditched" effort from my neutered male). On weekends my dishwasher is running 24/7 just to keep up. And have you ever tried to keep cats off very high cabinets? They love high places to look down upon us "little people" (cats were worshiped 3000 years ago and they have not forgotten). If I open a can of soup I'm fighting 3 off the counters. I would fail, fail, fail any form of inspection. Then again, it's probably made me more hearty and more resistant to food borne anything.

Food Network Fan · 12-16-2007, 07:26 PM

My cat has never got on the counter or the table. Never even tried it. I don't know why. I have had cats that I had to train not to, but not this one. This is honestly the best cat we have ever had. Maybe since he doesn't like human food he doesn't see the need to get up there. But he does have a dish in the kitchen floor.

PaulaFan777 · 12-16-2007, 08:41 PM

It's pretty clean, except it needs to be dusted every other day though.

Chefnot · 12-17-2007, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Food Network Fan

I guarantee my cat is cleaner than some of the critters they have in commercial kitchens.

Sooo true. Not sure why they get the higher ground. I'll refrain from my inner most thoughts.

isilzha · 12-18-2007, 02:01 AM

I don't know how you guys keep your animals out of the kitchen. We have dogs on the smaller size, they don't jump up on the counter, and they don't shed so their fur isn't all up in everyone's food, but they walk through and when we're making something fragrant they like to check it out.

radiodugger · 12-18-2007, 10:26 PM

Yike...how do I begin...? Well, first, I have to say, that I rent a room in a friend's house. I have my OWN pots and pans, eat off of paper plates/bowls with disposable flatware. His kitchen?

A TOXIC WASTE DISPOSAL SITE!

He rarely does dishes. Blue fur grows in that sink, and there is a sour-sickness smell in the kitchen. Food goes bad in the fridge, and he skims the mold off, heats it up and EATS it!!! He really got mad at me for throwing out some hard dry rice that had been in there for three weeks. "All you had to do is take off the blue stuff, add water and microwave!"

He has ONE working burner on the stove. The fire alarm goes off when it heats up. There is so much grease under the surface units, you could lube your CAR! Pure FILTH! I use a portable TOASTMASTER burner unit to cook with. I wash my pans in the bathroom (MY bathroom) sink.

My Emerilware pots/pans set is OFF LIMITS to him. He has a really bad habit of turning the burner on high, putting a pan on it and walking away, forgetting about it until boils DRY, and nearly catches the kitchen on fire. The stove top is blackened with just such instances.

I know you want to ask: "Why the hell do you STAY there?"

Well, the answer is...there are NO places near where I work, plus...I'm only paying him $350 a month for that room. My bank account is growing every month, and, when I have a few more grand built up, I DO plan on moving out! Until then, I make do!

Radio Doug

isilzha · 12-18-2007, 10:35 PM

One time I took a trip with friends. We bought a bunch of bagels at the start of the trip so we could make sandwiches out of them to save a little money so we wouldn't have to eat out every meal. A friend bought cream cheese and then left it out on the hotel table all night. The next day she put it on a bagel and ate it. I was in shock. The same trip she had leftovers from a restaurant, left it on the table and ate it the next day. Oh why couldn't she put the stuff in the cooler, I was waiting for her to get food poisoning.