would you consider this sanitary/acceptable?

The bakery associate had the donut tray on the ground and was filling the tray with donuts from a bag to put in the display case.

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You really need to ask someone who is a Certified food establishment inspector. The donuts were on a tray. They were not touching the ground. This may look odd, but might in reality be perfectly acceptable and legal.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

His fingers could then be touching the bottom of the tray...and then the next batch of donuts...although when I saw him pick up the tray he did not touch the bottom that time...

against food regs. this is a major health code no-no!

Just lost trying to find a fire pit in a concrete jungle wishing it was a wooded glen...

if it wasn't for bad luck, I would have no luck at all

you cant put food on the ground, tray or not.

And even more so that many dont realize you cant store stuff on the floor
in your walk in fridge or freezer they must be on something so air can
properly flow around the product.

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There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots
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When you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody

About as acceptable as the waitress at Texas Roadhouse the other night dropping the tongs they used to take rolls out of the oven on the floor and then picking it up and hanging it back on the hook.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

I don't think open food containers are supposed to be below waist level, but i'm not sure why i think that. seems i learned it in a foodhandler class about 100 years ago.

Time to build a bigger bridge.

Oh no. I would not be able to eat a donut from there.

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Motivation increases when we assume large responsibilities with a short deadline.

Personally, I would not think it was sanitary since the tray would go back in the case. Plus, despite the doughnuts not actually being on the ground, something about the tray on the ground "feels" dirty.

Nothing below 18 inches on the ground. Putting a tray on the floor, then placing donuts on it....HUGE NO NO!

(safety audits all boxes must be stored 18 inches above the ground, on racks inside the cooler) If you go inside a hotel cooler, you will notice the metal racks/stand fixtures are 18 to 24 inches tall, so no box is EVER placed directly on the ground!) I worked for the hotels in the culinary industry for years.

Negative -- not sanitary, not compliant with health code, not good business.

That tray of donuts should have been through out, along with that practice.

What did you do? Anything?

Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut

@dspeakes wrote:

I don't think open food containers are supposed to be below waist level, but i'm not sure why i think that. seems i learned it in a foodhandler class about 100 years ago.

Open containers must be placed on a shelf, above meat products or sauces, liquids, which may (and do) drip into/onto the open containers. We were actually not allowed to ever have an open container. We had to put a lid or saran wrap, tightly tie it, date it and rotate it.

This donut place, if the health department walked in, would be shut down or at the least, downgraded to a C from an A rating. If they did it again, they would pull the rating and shut the place down.

The wealth of information among us is amazing. Seems like 18 inches off the ground is the rule, and if it is in the presence of other food that might drip, then other rules apply (in this case, it doesn't seem like it was in a refrigerator or anything else). In one of my earlier lives, I worked as a "pantry man" in a hotel kitchen making salads, etc. I was never trained or told anything. But that was a long time ago, and presumably things have changed.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

@myst4au wrote:

The wealth of information among us is amazing. Seems like 18 inches off the ground is the rule, and if it is in the presence of other food that might drip, then other rules apply (in this case, it doesn't seem like it was in a refrigerator or anything else). In one of my earlier lives, I worked as a "pantry man" in a hotel kitchen making salads, etc. I was never trained or told anything. But that was a long time ago, and presumably things have changed.

I used to work Pantry Line Cook in the major hotels. We had to have a health card and had to watch the health food safety-practices-movie every year. You had to be tested for TB and keep your health card on you at all times. At the hotel, they would send you home if your health card expired. They would be in big trouble if you had an expired card on you.

I was doing it back in the days when dinosaurs walked on earth.

The only real requirement I faced was ensuring that the union business agent who assigned people to jobs in the various hotels wanted me to go there. I knew how to ensure that. I was young, but not naive. What fun! Most of the time I was a busboy and later a waiter.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

Many times the worst offenders can actually be supermarkets in their deli
and hot food /prepared food sections. I occasionally do health related inspections
and cant begin to tell you the stuff I've seen. I had to get the argiculture dept involved
in one state because it was so bad. (Health dept doesnt handle supermarkets there regardless
of food served). They were mixing ready to eat cold & hot food with their bare hands,
a substantial portion of the deli meats were 55+ degrees were just two of many.

This was a grocery store mystery shop where there isn't a space on the report for comment. I had a friend of the opposite gender notify the store so hopefully they don't make the connection between the mystery shopper and the report to the store.

I saw the owner of a restaurant put her tray of frozen shrimp on the garbage bin in the alley to defrost them in the sun!!

I remember an older 20/20 show where:

1. Employee picked his butt and then grabbed the burger patty throwing it on the grill.

2. Employee in retaliation pee'ed in a coffee pot and served it to customers.

3. Employee dropped the burger on the ground, picked it up and threw it back on the grill.

4. Employee picked his nose, then handled the food afterwards.

We have NO idea the disgusting things that happen in the kitchen!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2015 06:46PM by SunnyDays2.

@jmitw wrote:

This was a grocery store mystery shop where there isn't a space on the report for comment. I had a friend of the opposite gender notify the store so hopefully they don't make the connection between the mystery shopper and the report to the store.

I'm glad you reported it.

However, I should point out that if there is no room for it in the report, you can always send a separate email to the scheduler and let them decide what to do with it. I've done that more than once for an "out-of-the-box" type observation that needed to be reported. That way there are no ICA violation issues as well.

Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut

But if i let the MSC decide what to do....they might not do anything....I've seen MANY things I wish there was a place to report...especially with this particular shop where there is no general narrative...but most aren't that major.......

@jmitw wrote:

But if i let the MSC decide what to do....they might not do anything....I've seen MANY things I wish there was a place to report...especially with this particular shop where there is no general narrative...but most aren't that major.......

I think you are correct on all points. There are some things that are major enough to be reported outside the mystery shop report - sometimes to the health department, sometimes to the police or fire departments.

Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut

I have contacted a health department...once after a mystery shop....and twice while shopping on my own at a store that was mystery shopped....

all of the issues were for the same store (2 different locations)....

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would you consider this sanitary/acceptable?

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