Food Safety in Commercial Wood Fired Pizzerias

[shuboyje]

This is one that has crossed my mind before, and again today after watching the Tony's Pizza videos over at Pizza Quest.  He mentions using wooded containers for everything at competition in Naples to keep toppings room temperature before going into the blazing oven.  This matches up to what I do at home and what I see in every video of pizza being made in Naples.  Even in the video you see him with his sauce sitting in a bowl on the counter.

Doesn't this become an issue with US food safety standards and how do they deal with it?  My wife was an RGM for Pizza Hut for many years.  Everything had to be kept in a cooled make table bellow 40F at all times with a temperature log on file showing they have been checking the temperature at the prescribed interval.  Anything else was major violations.  Who has some insight?

[scott r]

I have found that it all comes down to how strict your individual town/inspector is.    Unfortunately what they want is everything chilled, but not all places are run by the book.   

[thezaman]

 what we do is keep cheese , sausage, mushroom, under 40 degrees, i precook both so that they will cook thru in under 2 minutes. cheese at room temperature usually melts to fast anyway. dough has no regulations on holding temperatures. i find that dough with internal temperatures under 65 degrees will not cook thru at high oven temperatures. we flour our dough and proof it in stacking 7 inch deep dish pans next to our oven. the hi acid content in tomatoes make them safe at room temperature for periods under two hours.
  i just got my mobile license approval for Ohio on monday i had to set up my operation so they could test temperatures, as well as sanitation. this included a working nsf approved 4 compartment sink, refrigerated prep rail .all had to be covered to protect food from the elements. i have seen all kinds of homemade equipment being used and passed by different local vendors. when i asked my inspector about this she remarked that her department follow the book. we will be better for it.

[GotRocks]

The guidelines/Rules are 4 hours for perishable items at an uncontrolled temperature. (between 40-140) before it needs to be either consumed, discarded, or held below 41 degrees, or above 140 degrees.

If I was to hold at room temp, I would have a time/temp log handy and keep it properly filled out if questions from the local health inspector became an issue. For instance, if I remove the cheese from the cooler at 9:00 A.M. to have it warmed by lunch, I would check the temp, write it down with the time, and clearly show that it has all been used before the 4 hour window expired.

[gabaghool]

It really matters state to state and even inspector to inspector.  It depends on who your inspector is, what they notice, what their pet peeves are and if they are new or a seasoned vet.

In Connecticut, we can keep ALL veggies for pizza can be left at room temp.....this includes the sauce (which since its tomato, is almost impossible to become tainted.  Their thinking (correctly) is that all items on the pizza prep line is going into a high temp oven till cooked through.

Oh, cheese also has to be held cold....which I don't understand, cause what is it gonna change to.....uh...CHEESE??