FN Chefs - ignoring food sanitation
Lately, the lack of concern over food sanitation that's shown on the Food Network is driving me nuts. First it was the double-dipping on Chopped, then it was another chopped contestant who had a cut and mixed the salad with her hands. Her comment "I don't have cooties." Huh? And I'm not a vampire.
Okay, I'm thinking that maybe we can cut them some slack because it's a timed contest and they're out of their own kitchens and not thinking clearly. On the other hand, I'm thinking that food sanitation ought to be second-nature to professional chefs, and if they're bleeding into the salad on TV, they're probably less concerned in their own kitchens when no one is watching.
Then on The Next Iron Chef, where the chefs should be a level above the Chopped contestants, Chef Maida (I know I probably spelled it wrong, but you know who he is) stuck his finger in his ice cream mix to taste it. Okay, we assume his hands are clean so it's not horrible. Yet. Because then he used the same finger to push the rest off the spoon and back into the ice cream maker, and that's the stuff he's going to serve. I'm sorry, but...ick.
Then on Ann Burrell's show, she sips soup (or maybe a sauce, sorry but I don't recall exactly) out of a spoon and then after sipping from that spoon she pours the rest of the spoon's contents back into the pot. Sure, it's still on the heat and getting cooked, but really? You pour it back in?
So do you think that all this is just because they're on TV and not in their restaurants, or do you think that these chefs all have bad habits and they're just getting caught in the act?
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18 Comments:
And add to that the fact that hardly anyone rinses fishes, meats, or fruits & veggies. Jacques gets his props for doing this, but he is old school. Yes, I know it consumes precious on air seconds. Just open the package and throw it into the pot or salad. Yuck!
whoot at 6:25PM on 10/28/09
What you see is what you get. Most of these double dippers are chefs and restaurant owners. If they dd on TV, you know they do the same in their own kitchen. The judges constantly call out violaters, and sometimes (often) they continue to do the same thing. By the way, I think all these shows are stupid, the combo of ingredients make little sense, and the final product seems odd and unappetizing.
dmcavanagh at 6:38PM on 10/28/09
I'd say it happens in nearly every restaurant. Much worse in many of them.
Oh the horrors I saw as a teen working as a prep bitch/dishwasher, you wouldn't want me to tell you.
In the end the way I think of it is I'm eating a dead animal's carcass and dead plant matter so... why get grossed out by the little things?
AyeEat at 6:43PM on 10/28/09
There's so many disgusting accidents on Chopped. There was an episode where someone cooked a piece of food that had dropped on the floor and served it to the judges anyway.
If I'm cooking for myself and my SO I have no problem with double dipping or tasting stuff with my fingers (as long as my hands are clean) but when I worked in a restaurant I was careful not to do stuff like that and to keep my ungloved hands off of the food. Our kitchen was open to the house though so people could watch us working and we didn't want to alarm people by doing anything gross.
I'm afraid that these seem to be such common practices, it really makes me not want to eat out anymore...
gingercookiewithlime at 6:53PM on 10/28/09
It doesn't bother me at all - do you *really* think that the line cooks at any restaurant, even nice ones, use a new tasting spoon every time (see: Anthony Bourdain, "Kitchen Confidential" - or ask *anyone* who's ever worked in food service)? Or that they walk off the line during a busy dinner service to diligently bandage up a cut?
I think people are overreacting... I'd be more concerned about the freshness and quality of the raw product that's going into your food than the dirty hands that might be touching it.
GirlFromJetCity at 7:31PM on 10/28/09
@whoot Why do you need to rinse meat?
Asado at 8:02AM on 10/29/09
i think the current standards for rinsing meat is that you shouldn't. there's a higher risk of spreading any bacteria to surfaces and that puts you at a higher risk
_greenbean at 9:46AM on 10/29/09
I'm seeing both sides of the fence.
Being on the production side, there are quite a lot of things that happen behind the scenes that are not shown on camera (i.e. washing hands, prepping food with gloves, etc.) So, when the camera is rolling, it can seem like the important sanitation steps were skipped.
The blatant ones though, like the double dipping, touching hair, face, etc. in the middle of cooking on camera? Yeah, I find that gross.
Whenever we photograph or film food, we have a food safety person on set to ensure everyone is following procedure. Then, once the filming is done, it goes back to that team to be reviewed again before the video or photographs are distributed to the public.
Maybe FN needs a food safety person on the set.
Personally, I find it disgusting that Paula Deen's dogs are in the kitchen while she's cooking on camera. And during the Thanksgiving (or was it Christmas?) special last year, a fly landed on the food while she was delivering her closing monologue. Gross. (and who was watching the monitor while they were filming??)
Reality though - lots of people cook at home with their pets in the kitchen, jumping up, sneaking bites of food, letting them lick their fingers before they continue cooking (without washing their hands). And, I'm sure we've all had a fly land on our food at one time or another.
I guess bottom line is in-home is one thing. On-camera should have higher standards.
WickedGoodDinner at 1:57PM on 10/29/09
My 2 pet peeves in this department are:
a) Tasting and dipping the spoon back into the pan for a second taste. Regardless of whether or not a chef does this in his or her own restaurant, it should not be encouraged on camera.
b) Not washing hands with soap after handling meats and fish. The last thing I want to see a TV chef do is handle chicken, then move on to dessert without having washed hands on camera.
As for pets, as long as they don't jump on the counter, I don't see the harm. My dog is a 12 year old Springer Spaniel and he doesn't move from his favorite chair until he hears a knife hit a cutting board. This dog knows the difference between a knife going through meat ("Yeah baby!") and a knife going through a head of broccoli ("Later for that"). He's also a bread lover and if he hears the crinkle of a bread bag, he will knock over anyone in his path. He sits and waits patiently and if I ever feed my dog while I'm cooking, my hands never touch his mouth - he's an excellent mid-air catcher.
therealchiffonade at 2:43PM on 10/29/09
The thing that really grosses me out is when the chefs (happens a lot on Chopped) are sweating and it is dripping off their faces. You know where it is landing.........ewwwwww.
deetroitMI at 1:54PM on 10/30/09
Odd that you would post this, as there is actually a scientific study showing FN chefs are practicing unsanitary things:
http://today.ttu.edu/2008/09/texas-tech-study-measures-food-safety-in-popular-cooking-shows/
I think cleanliness is next to Godliness, especially with food!
SuzyHomemaker at 2:55PM on 10/30/09
@SuzyHomemaker, it's an interesting article, but I think they might be expecting too much in terms of having someone wash veggies and herbs on camera. I don't want to watch that over and over, unless there's some interesting new technique.
Lately, they've been doing more handwashing on the shows. At first I thought it was odd, because it's a bit of a time waster in a short show. In the back of my mind I was just thinking that the washing up was done off camera, like a lot of prep and cleanup is done. But if there are that many people learning basic kitchen skills and sanitation from these shows, then it makes sense to show it or al least mention it when going into a commercial.
The thing about the double-dipping and other offenses is that if they're doing it on camera, then it's a well-established habit. Otherwise, they'd be looking for another spoon, or at least setting it down off camera and pretending that it's a new spoon.
Heh. The other day, I was heating some soup and spooned a taste and was about to toss the spoon in the sink. And I stopped myself. It's my bowl of soup. That I'm going to eat right now. I can use the same spoon. But yeah, it's such a habit for me NOT to use the same spoon that I have to think about it twice when it's okay.
dbcurrie at 2:17AM on 10/31/09
Yeah, I'm grossed out by a lot of this stuff, and there are a few chefs who always practice good hygiene and it doesn't seem to slow them down. Then there's Rachel who often says that it's her practice to wash and prep veggies when she gets home, so at least she's got an excuse for not doing it on camera.
I'm so meticulous about this I don't even put the tasting spoon back in when I'm cooking at home alone! I want any leftovers to have the best chance of lasting without contamination. Besides, it only takes one extra spoon - one for tasting to be filled from the stirring spoon.
Pets don't bother me at all.
lemonfair at 8:56AM on 11/01/09
You know, this is an interesting topic...back during the Next Food Network Star, Tyler Florence had a bit in a grocery store with the contestants and they had to give some sort of money-saving tip on camera while shopping. One contestant spoke about not throwing away the marinade as it can be used for a sauce later on.
Tyler chastised this contestant up on side and down the other about food safety and how you never, ever use a marinade after it's had the meat/seafood in it since it could make people ill. He was nasty and brusk with this group of people, but especially so with this contestant.
Two nights later, he's on some show - I think it was the South Beach Food Show - and he's with Alton Brown on the beach cooking something. Don't you know he uses a marinade after taking the meat or shrimp out of it and cooked it on the stove to make a sauce? What is with that??? Anne Burrell did the same thing on her show with a pork dish...
I wrote to the FN's Bob Tuschman, saying they ought to have this type of food safety issue clear cut and across the board with their shows...and Tyler Florence should have apologized to the contestant.
Food safety in this day and age is HUGE...from my days as a cook I know what food goes through...from point A to point B and onward to the final destination. These shows have an obligation to their viewers to promote safe food handling practices. Their viewers are home cooks and how you can get this message across to a home cook is consistency and repitition.
Rozenjoze at 12:36PM on 11/02/09
It's not uncommon for a cook to use leftover marinade as a sauce after cooking the marinade. Frankly, the bits of protein that become solid little pebbles in the marinade put me off. What I've learned to do from the outset is make two small batches of the marinade - one for the raw meat and one to use as a sauce.
Curious - did you get a response from Tuschman??
therealchiffonade at 2:06PM on 11/02/09
@chiff- I swear this is the 4th or 5th time you've posted the EXACT same thing I was going to say! I get so gorked out when chefs handle raw meat then wipe their hands on a towel, or do a quick rinse under running water with no soap. Then they grab a knife for their next task and all I can think of is the millions of germs they're spreading! Ack!
When we taste anything in the kitchen where I work part time there are dedicated tasting spoons and they are only used once, then they're sent to the dishroom. It isn't a face paced restaurant setting but we're still under the gun to get food served when promised. I'd rather be 5 minutes late than double dip.
Perhaps FN can start adding a "Do as we say, not as we do" disclaimer to each show.
AuntJone at 1:20PM on 11/03/09
@AuntJone - great minds, baby!!
It's not a stretch even in a busy place to keep a small steam table tray with teaspoons for sampling - and then to deposit them in the sink or in a basin of soapy water that is eventually transferred to the dishwasher.
As for a "do as we say..." disclaimer, TVFN would have to make a 30 minute crawler loop out of it to air during Sandra Lee's entire show. I'd rather it said, "Hey kids, don't try this at home."
therealchiffonade at 1:33PM on 11/03/09
Ha, that one guy on Chopped that double-dipped thru EVERY challenge, even after the judges called him on it! You could tell it was totally habitual, I wonder how much his business has suffered after that episode aired? I would not eat in his restaurant.
And @ deetroit, that sweating into the food thing is truly disgusting.
Plus half the time they never cover or tie back their hair - there was that one guy on Chopped that kept wiping his hair back from his face ( while he dripped sweat into the food ) and sure enough, his hair ended up on the plate.
eeeewwwwwwww
LauraJ at 7:05PM on 11/15/09