We will be making our own ice cream and putting it in a freezer (True 49 2 door) Healt dept says we can’t store bulk milld Italian Sausage and other meats in the same freezer that contains RTE - ready to eat items like ice cream. Does any one know of a two door freezer with a divider down the middle ? Or some other way around this with out buying 2 separate freezers ?Any help much appreciated, build out is progressing well
Sorry I know of no units like that. I could be wrong.
George mills
Would they allow you to just put in a Lexan divider to section off the portion with the ice-cream or sausage whichever would be easier?
I call Bull-Spit on your inspectors claims!
Proper practice dictates that you should not have raw foods above RTE foods due to possible contamination through drippage, but there is no rules that I am aware of saying that an RTE and a raw product cannot simply share the same freezer/cooler space.
If your inspectors claims were true, that would mean we’d need multiple freezers just for each specific product. That I could not have lettuce in a cooler where my raw meats are stored.
Have your inspector show you the statute that they are citing, if they continue to claim this falsity, call your state department for a clarification.
Now, having Italian Sausage in the same freezer as ice cream may cause a flavor transfer issue, unless of course one of your specialty ice cream flavors is garlic W/ italian herbs…
I had an issue where my new local inspector was claiming that I cannot cure & smoke our own bacon anymore without first filing a HACCP plan, and getting approval from our state food safety lab,
What she was interpreting was rules for “Cured, Not cooked” (Mettwurst, proscuitto and other pork products that are cured, dry-aged for months, and consumed raw) and trying to apply those to a completely different situation.
My point is, Read the food code for your state and county, know the rules inside and out, and if need be, question your inspector and make them cite the codes they are referring to, then discuss it with them.
You also need to remember, they are used to dealing with complete idiots most of the day, and they can become jaded and forget that there are very knowledgeable operators out there.
Got Rocks nailed it. Your inspector is wrong or you misconstrued what he/she said. Raw meats must be kept below any RTE items but not in an entirely different unit. Think about it, most places have a walk-in fridge and a walk-in freezer, that’s it. Designated area in the freezer separate from each other, but not an entirely different unit.
The above postings are correct. But I point out that Local jurisdictions can add rules to their code.That may or may not be the case here.
George Mills
Agree with the above. We store RTE foods with raw meats in the same freezer RTE’s are on the very top shelf and raw meats are on the bottom. I dont see why they cant share the same space if they are stored properly