Question I am an assistant manager at a Valley Starbucks. We have the standard of changing our milk carafes every hour. I was just wondering if this is a Maricopa County Health standard or if this is a Starbucks standard. Could you please advise me on this? Thanks.
Answer This is typically a Starbucks requirement. Most Health Departments require potentially hazardous food to be held at or below 41 degrees. Time alone may be used to control bacterial growth in a food item, but the item must be labeled to indicate when it was removed from temperature control and when it must be discarded. In most cases, the time out of temperature control must not exceed 4 hours.
The policy to discard the carafes every hour is likely a Starbucks policy to ensure a high quality product, and as a level of safety so the 4 hour time limit is not exceeded.
The section that applies from Maricopa County regulations is below:
3-501.19 Time as a Public Health Control.*
(A) Except as specified under ¶ (B) of this section, if time only, rather than time in conjunction with temperature, is used as the public health control for a working supply of potentially hazardous food before cooking, or for ready-to-eat potentially hazardous food that is displayed or held for service for immediate consumption:
(1)The food shall be marked or otherwise identified to indicate the time that is 4 hours past the point in time when the food is removed from temperature control,
(2)The food shall be cooked and served, served if ready-to-eat, or discarded, within 4 hours from the point in time when the food is removed from temperature control,
R 4-3-2002 8-62
The policy to discard the carafes every hour is likely a Starbucks policy to ensure a high quality product, and as a level of safety so the 4 hour time limit is not exceeded.
