the 3 second rule

umm.

no.

I've had to delay banquet service due to dropped food. or change menus completely and offer a discounted price due to screw ups.

At home? Do what you will. At work? no.

Kinda disturbing that the question is even asked. Thank you, PrairieChef for your appropriate response.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PrairieChef 

umm.

no.

 

I've had to delay banquet service due to dropped food. or change menus completely and offer a discounted price due to screw ups.

 

At home? Do what you will. At work? F**k no.

It is not worth it it in terms of respecting the food and the respect of your co-workers and customers. If someone saw you doing that, they would remember you forever as the guy/girl who would serve crap off the floor. Floor pepper is not in my spice rack.

Did anyone see the Hells Kitchen episode when the employee put the chicken wing back in the fryer in front of Ramsey?? That was a good one.

Actually, Rat, it was a Kitchen Nightmares episode. But, yeah, pretty disgusting---especially in that place, which seemingly hadn't been cleaned since the place opened.

Quote:

Originally Posted by landmcatering 

We actually use the 5 second rule at our place, never had a problem

Ah, you must have caught the bacteria napping! Another five seconds and you would have contaminated the food. Sheesh!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazza 

Ah, you must have caught the bacteria napping! Another five seconds and you would have contaminated the food. Sheesh!!!

Just bring it back up to 180 and nothing's going to live through that, plus we cater out of our house and when we have an event we make sure the dogs go outside.
 

Sorry to post again but they did a segment of mythbusters about the 3 second rule. Apparently it did not matter on the amount of time food was exposed.

They actually let it sit for 10 seconds with no problems

Problems or not if it hits the floor at home or at work it's garbage unless the dog (at home) is interested and wants to eat it.  Otherwise into the food waste it goes.   No matter how clean the floors are they're still dirty and whatever is on your shoes that you picked up in the washroom has followed you into the kitchen so no way.  Floor=garbage.

Quote:

Originally Posted by landmcatering 

We actually use the 5 second rule at our place, never had a problem

Quote:

Originally Posted by landmcatering 

They actually let it sit for 10 seconds with no problems

I'm so glad You're in Florida, and I'm in California.

I still have kimshi outback

There is no such rule on the floor out the door

The Mythbusters episode, much like home cooking, didn't account for hundreds of people per day over the life of a successful restaurant. In a few years on the line, you could cook as many meals as you'd eat in a lifetime. One bout of food poisoning by ones own hand in a lifetime for the average person; no big deal. When it's someone else's health and your reputation, when you're serving enough meals for several lifetimes in a serious career, it's downright unacceptable.

The Mythbusters test also didn't include a restaurant environment. What happens when a little chicken juice dribbles on the floor and it gets missed for a while on a busy night?

Even beyond that, it's a matter of pure respect to me. I could not disrespect anyone who I serve in my home enough to do that. How much better should you treat those who support your livelihood, and choose to pay for the food you make?

Off topic....Anyone ever managed to stop their kid doing it?

There's Grandma's addage "Eat a peck of dirt before your 5" referring to allowing a child's immune system to develop from an early age. This is backed up by two studies I've read done here where it was also found kids were ingesting cleaner residue in fastidiously clean residences which actually killed useful bacteria found in the gut. I think Manuka honey gained its popularity for reestablishing those colonies....

As stated above....unprofessional? Yes. The same risk is there as with servers handling cash & then your plate.

Oh yeah, dont eat the bar nuts....urban legend has it that a test once revealed 12 different urine samples in one bowl!

Indeed-i aggree,come on -   a Chef at SOU CHEF level ought be leading by example-if the sou chef is seen to pick things up-then so will the students/Trainee's.

When repremanded,presumeably  by the Head Chef or Manager /owner,i can just hear: "Well its ok for the SOU Chef to do it-so it must be ok for ME!!"

PROFFESSIONAL STANDARDS PLEASE!! Yuk

(oops-i forgot it was just a question -im sure "Fryguy" does not serve dropped food at all-sorry dude!)

ED :  Here's some SHARK BAIT for you  

We have enough problems in Florida to deal with!

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by landmcatering 

They actually let it sit for 10 seconds with no problems

It'd take me less than three seconds to kick anyone who thinks the three second rule is a good guideline out of my kitchen.

In a restaurant you have to follow strict rules when it comes to food safety, so any dropped food MUST go into the trash.     Now it is true that most dry foods won't pick up anything bad that quickly and reheating the food will kill anything, but it's simply a BAD practice from a customer stand point.  One bad review and your place could be toast.

I've dropped a cucumber on the floor, whole , washed it and used it. Same with a loaf of bread, it was in the bag, fell off the counter picked it up, wiped off the outside of the bag and moved on. Got bumped at the panini machine cause a server is too busy talking over their shoulder (look where you are going idiot) dropped two sandwiches to the floor...... those hit the trash and had to be remade.

now then as far as germs and bacteria go, HAHAHAHA HA! you are not going to get rid of them, ever.  wash your hands and as soon as you turn around that .01 percent the antibacterial soap didn't kill has bred into bigger numbers. Make a sandwich it's in the sandwich ... all the little lies we tell ourselves are not going to change a thing.

If you drop food, it goes into the trash. There is no 3-second rule!  I was watching Kitchen Nightmares on BBC the other day, and Chef Gordon Ramsay saw the chef drop a chicken wing on the floor and put it back into the fryer. When asked about this, the chef said, "The fryer sterilizes it!"  WHAT?  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

_______________

Bringing back great food to the family table, inspired by Lisa Caponigri

Quote:

Originally Posted by landmcatering 

We actually use the 5 second rule at our place, never had a problem

I get that kind of statement from employees from time to time.

My response always was:

Do you want to be around and take responsibility when a problem does arrise?

So...

During a busy service you notice that you are one-shy on your 8ounce tenderloin.  It's well done and you need to get it in the oven ASAP.  You know you have a tenderloin cleaned and ready to be cut, just put the knife to it.  You go to your meat station which is impeccable.  You put your knife to it, which is impeccable. You are carrying your 8 ounce piece to the line when all of a sudden it slips out of your hands completely by accident.  It hits the floor, and for a split second all time stands still. 

As quickly as possible, which is usually measured in 10ths of a split second in the culinary world,you pick it up. 

Now, knowing that this particular piece costs the place about 5-6 bucks, and the rest of your tenderloin is at your meat station, and all your cooks are watching, do you (a) throw it out saying "well, it's ok. I don't pay for it

                                                (b) wash it off under cold running water, inspect it thoroughly and cook it, chastising yourself all the way for being such a clumsy oaf, or

                                                (c)Throw it out, and tell your cooks do as I say not as I do

Sorry, but accidents happen.  Yes the 3 second rule is a joke, but when it gets right down to brass tacks, you don't want to set an example that it is ok to throw out everything that hits the floor .  When you are dealing with ever-rising costs, and razor thin profit margins, the garbage can can go hungry.

OK.....Now I'm glad I don't eat in Canada OR Florida!

Yes that is a sigh of relief form both of us.  Keep chucking out your expensive product and see how fast bankruptcy hits you.  You should be used to that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by iplaywithfire 

It'd take me less than three seconds to kick anyone who thinks the three second rule is a good guideline out of my kitchen.

Thank-you Play with Fire

Could not have put it better.....I would say "get your dumb &$$ off my line and take the meat on the floor with you for your dinner!"

I here you on that one GYPSY and to add:  if the Chef did that more then once it take me less then 3 seconds to rid myself of my service at that place. I want to work with proper training not MCd's Food. On the floor and to use the word especially raw meat goes into the trash. Learn to do it right, lack of discipline is no excuse for poor performance.I know the 40-140 rule however, is there a piece of glass in your meat know from the floor that slide over from the dish room, Oh you doid'nt htink of that one did you, see how fast your go under when that happens. I'll take my chances with 6 bucks every other month.

Scott,


By lowering your standards to feeding people meat off the ground, you are contributing to the problem of operating a restaurant honestly and within budget. You are contributing to the problem with that behavior.

Tell me, what happens when someone goes out for a smoke break in a back alley, gets a nice residue of fluids on their shoe, and tracks a little in on to the floor? Are you aware that it only takes about .1ml/kg of ethylene glycol to send someone to the hospital? That's 2ml for a child. Do you really want to sit and guess how much it would take to break the NOAEL and leave a customer feeling ill for the next day? Take a read through the labels on your cleaning products. Glance over the list of ingredients in pesticides. Can I wipe a little residue of that on to your meat, rinse it off, then serve it to you? As Cabotvt said, what about glass?

But you're in BC, and outside of the Vancouver area; I can't be too hard on you. I know what sort of disgusting practices are common place there, as it's where I grew up. Customers don't hit you with a lawsuit nearly so quickly as in the US, so nobody sues for dangerous food. I can't count the number of horror stories from kitchens that I heard growing up that didn't end with people out of their job and a place shut down. Glass in the food, strange puddles of toxic gunk, cooked burgers scooped off the floor, cardboard attached to fried frozen food, rotten meat being served up, the list goes on. I am actually more frightened of the food in most of small town BC than what I'd get off a taco truck in Idaho. Please, do your part to try to raise these standards; don't give in to the crap that goes on.
 

You take the $6 chunk of meat, record it's weight and toss it.

At the end of the month, it becomes a "wastage" expense and is accounted for as such.

Would you EAT  it or FEED  it to YOUR  MOM?  Studies have been done on this so called 3 second rule and contrary to what you may have been told . The bacteria count after 3 seconds was almost as high as something on floor for 10 minutes. Keeping in mind 10 minute one has been out of fridge longer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titomike 

 

Oh yeah, dont eat the bar nuts....urban legend has it that a test once revealed 12 different urine samples in one bowl!

I've heard the same thing about the bowls of open dinner mints you see on your way out of some places.  That was just disgusting!