Pizza Stores

MilitantSquatter

MilitantSquatter

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With all the safety issues and inspections restaurants are faced with how do pizza stores get away with leaving cooked pizzas that have cooled to room temp (or were refrigerated from the day before) under a partially enclosed glass partition or out on a counter ?

I've probably eaten hundreds of slices and in the past I've told them not to heat them up several times and luckily never got sick.

Just wondering.
 
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I was thinking this same thing yesterday. I noticed for a while pizza places were putting signs on the glass that said "for display only" (but they'd still serve it) but those are gone now. I try to only go to pizza places that turn food quickly to be somewhat safe but you never know.
 
MilitantSquatter said:
With all the safety issues and inspections restaurants are faced with how do pizza stores get away with leaving cooked pizzas that have cooled to room temp (or were refrigerated from the day before) under a partially enclosed glass partition or out on a counter ?

I've probably eaten hundreds of slices and in the past I've told them not to heat them up several times and luckily never got sick.

Just wondering.
Click to expand...

In college we always said that cold pizza from the night before was the
"Breakfast of Champions"........most of the time we just threw the box in the
oven because it wouldn't fit in the fridge and then pulled it out in the
morning and munched on it on the way to class......None of us got sick....sometimes
you gotta wonder if this stuff is REALLY as awful as they make it out to be......
 
I just had a slice for breakfast.......it had been on the kitchen table all night in the box:biggrin:
 
I have never seen such a thing. If selling by the slice around here it is kept in a controlled temperature and humidity invironment until sold.

I can't believe that any health department in this country would allow that.
 
parrothead said:
I have never seen such a thing. If selling by the slice around here it is kept in a controlled temperature and humidity invironment until sold.

I can't believe that any health department in this country would allow that.
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I don't recall seeing one place in NY (probably hundreds if not thousands) with anything like you described in your area. Believe it or not, I think most areound here think that as long as it's sitting out it's fresh (even with the hardened cheese) and if taken from cold to oven it is old.

Plain slices (neopolitan & sicilian) typically go quickly during peak hours but final slices can sit out a while. Anything else like specialty topping slices (white pizza, marsala, ziti or veggie toppings etc or things like calzones, sausage/chicken rolls, stromboli, pinwheels etc. can sit there all day and may potentially be from the day before as well.
 
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Managed 12 years in pizza never seen this.

comes down to the danger zone 45degrees to 140degrees. As long as it is out of that zone food should be ok.
 
I believe there's a four hour window where food can be held "safely" in the danger zone before being rethermed above 165F, or thrown out.

If a health department inspector comes, how can they prove it was left at room temp for more than 4 hours? It seems to me a difficult thing to cite.
 
ZBQ said:
In college we always said that cold pizza from the night before was the
"Breakfast of Champions"........most of the time we just threw the box in the
oven because it wouldn't fit in the fridge and then pulled it out in the
morning and munched on it on the way to class......None of us got sick....sometimes
you gotta wonder if this stuff is REALLY as awful as they make it out to be......
Click to expand...

Left over pizza is my "Breakfast of Champions"!!
 
Professor Salt said:
I believe there's a four hour window where food can be held "safely" in the danger zone before being rethermed above 165F, or thrown out.

If a health department inspector comes, how can they prove it was left at room temp for more than 4 hours? It seems to me a difficult thing to cite.
Click to expand...

You make a very valid point.

Actually only 2 hours before it must get below 70. Then another 4 to below 40.

I guess I can see it not being a problem. As long as they are selling pizza and moving through product. OK, I'll have one of those slices as long as it looks like one of the fresh ones. Yumms.

And I love cold pizza in the morning.
 
I guess that two hour rule makes sense along with the fact that it's not proveable unless the inspector is checking without being noticed over several hours.

I just got back from one of the local spots where I took my daughter for lunch this afternoon.

... I counted 18 different styles of pizzas (all whole pies) in the display window. Since yesterday was a holiday, I think most were made fresh this morning. I'm sure a good % of them will still be there only partially sold before they close tonight around 10-11 PM and some of them will be back tomorrow.

For the record, we stuck with the plain pizza that was still hot.
 
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MilitantSquatter said:
I guess that two hour rule makes sense along with the fact that it's not proveable unless the inspector is checking without being noticed over several hours.
Click to expand...

I do know for a fact that my county has "secret shoppers" that do spot checks for the health department. I don't believe that it is a paid position. They probably can turn in the receipt maybe for reimbursement, that would be all.

Anywho, it would be easy if there were a suspected problem to get one of these people to hang out there for a bit and stop in a couple of times.
 
I cannot count the pizza I've eaten in the past 30+ years that has sat out over night in the box on the kitchen table. Not counting the warm stale beer the was still half full sitting next to that. Oh yeah, and the roach in the ash tray......I'll stop there!:cool::biggrin:
 
I ate pizza like that for 25 years until I moved off the Island. Never had a problem. There really isn't anything to generate bacteria it seems to me. Once it's cooked it'll hold a long time at room temp unless bacteria are introduced. Besides I think Americans have become too paranoid about this stuff. Some scientists even think we're becoming weak with all of the "Ultra Cleanliness" we practice. It's just not necessary, the rest of the world just eats. The NY pizza scene has it right.
 
ZILLA said:
Besides I think Americans have become too paranoid about this stuff. Some scientists even think we're becoming weak with all of the "Ultra Cleanliness" we practice. quote]


I agree completely. I have said for a long time that a sickly generation is in the process of being raised. Kids needs some germs every now and then the build immunities. A hand full of dirt wouldn't hurt every now and then either. :mrgreen:

I'm a moning after pizza eater too.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
 
I know, it drives me nuts to see people go overboard on cleanliness and antibacteiral EVERYTHING. The other day, I actually saw a box of Anitbacterial Q-tips. QTIPS!!! WTF?

When I was in the military I was part of a group that studied things and it was seen the the influx of antibacterails has pretty much kept in pace with the drastic increase with reistant stains. It takes alot more for a bacteria to get to us with all the hand gels and soaps and sprays we use now so that when it does actually get to us, it's so strong that it can overtake our own immune system much easier than it used to.

When I was in Nursing school a few years ago, I actually did an assignment on a patient I was introduced to who was given up for dead due to his infection. The hospital had used every kind of possible antibiotic for therapy on him and no matter what they used, he got worse. He was given up for dead and the family decided to do palitive care for him in his last days. once the antibiotics were stopped, the systemic infection actually resolved. Come to discover, whatever it was that had taken over this mans body was actually thriving on the medication taht was given to him to cure him. I spoke to him about 2 weeks after the medications had been stopped. He was fine and well only a little weak after his experience, still at the hospital whiel the hospital and CDC were doing workups on him.

When my son was born, my wife wouldn't let him go outside for nearly the first month until after he was Baptised. The only trips he saw outside were for the car trips to and from teh Dr's for his checkups. I was (very mad about this) to say the least. But, since my MIL was there also, helping I was systematically overuled on everything. It took awhile and a couple of incidents during that time for them to realize who was going to be incharge when it came down to it. nearly 5 years later, he's doing alright.
 
Since joining the Brethren and getting into competition BBQ, I have become much more aware of food handling procedures and issues.

I take some things with a grain or two of salt but there are some basics rules that really make sense.

The entire anti-bacterial movement is going to turn our future generations into sickly worry-warts. They need to play in the dirt and mud like we did!

As for the pizza thing - I also had this revelation when I was at a pizza place on Thursday. A dozen or so pies with variying toppings. Most looked dry and that means time at room temp - 70+ - for a LONG time. The pizzas are also stored in a rack out of site.

I know I have eaten many old pizzas in my time and had not ill-effects. Who knows.
 
I've eaten a ton of pizza from vendors that have had the pies on the counter for long periods and have never gotten sick. Until now I've never really thought about it.

I have to say that this thread does have me thinking a bit. Today I passed on the pizza.
 
With all the cold pizza I've eaten over the years, I never gave this much thought, but now that you've got me thinking about it...

Bacteria doesn't grow the same in all media. The pizza crust is hard baked bread and fairly dry, I wouldn't expect bacteria to grow in that any faster than it would grow in the loaf of bread sitting on top of my fridge. Fungus is likely to get there first, and that only if moisture is available. That would leave only the toppings. Tomatoes are pretty acidic and will retard bacterial growth in anything they're a part of. Cheese seems to be pretty resistant, too. Meat toppings I would tend to be leery of, unless it was pepperoni or something similar.

People have been storing food for thousands of years without benefit of modern refrigeration. The same methods of preparing food that worked then should still work now: smoking, drying, pickling, etc. We know more; we can be safer; we don't have to be nuts about it.
 
MAsQue said:
With all the cold pizza I've eaten over the years, I never gave this much thought, but now that you've got me thinking about it...

Bacteria doesn't grow the same in all media. The pizza crust is hard baked bread and fairly dry, I wouldn't expect bacteria to grow in that any faster than it would grow in the loaf of bread sitting on top of my fridge. Fungus is likely to get there first, and that only if moisture is available. That would leave only the toppings. Tomatoes are pretty acidic and will retard bacterial growth in anything they're a part of. Cheese seems to be pretty resistant, too. Meat toppings I would tend to be leery of, unless it was pepperoni or something similar.

People have been storing food for thousands of years without benefit of modern refrigeration. The same methods of preparing food that worked then should still work now: smoking, drying, pickling, etc. We know more; we can be safer; we don't have to be nuts about it.
Click to expand...
Bravo!!!! Well put!!!1:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap
 
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