# Rule of thumb: meats in baked goods, room temp, shelf life



## alisha nicole (Apr 7, 2010)

Okay.

So I operate a very small, one-woman bakery business out of the bakery i manage, when not on the bakery's clock. I supply local coffee shops & restaurants with all arrays baked goods and do custom pastry and cake orders. 

I'm confident in my bread-making and savory skills, but I'm unsteady about the rule of thumb (or, moreover, the rule of health & sanitation) in regard to making savory baked goods/breads that contain meat or other perishables and allowing them to sit out. At home, I wouldn't think twice about lobbing bacon into my brioche and leaving it out as I snack for days, but would I be ignorantly executing an unbecoming pastry faux-pas to say to a client, "yep, just leave it out, or you'll destroy the crust?" Can I make some luscious rolls studded with crunchy lardons and drop them off, to be left in a dry case, with no worries?

Should it simply be kept to cured meats? Should it be skipped altogether? 

Does anyone have any experience with this? Or have any light to shed?

Thanks in advance, I am just a baby in the world of small business.


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

Forget "rule of thumb", you have to operate under the "rule of the Food Code"! Contact your local health inspector to find out what the LAW is, not what you hope it is.


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## alisha nicole (Apr 7, 2010)

the rule of the food code is what i was referring to when i said "health and sanitation." unfortunately the jefferson county health department doesn't even seem to know what their own standards are.

thank you for your input, and i do agree that the bottom line is that of the health department, but one doesn't seem to exist here-- and if it does, the health department doesn't know what it is.

i was just hoping to glean some input from seasoned bakers who've been at this longer than i and have more developed sensibilities in regard to what is appropriate and largely acceptable.

thanks again.


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## chefwriter (Oct 31, 2012)

www.jchealthdept.org.

1948 Wiltshire Rd
Suite 1
Kearneysville WV, 25430

Contact Numbers
Main Phone Number: 
304-728-8416
Fax: 304-728-3319
Well & Septic: 304-728-8415
Well & Septic Fax:
304-728-3314
Food Safety: 304-728-3306
Clinical: 304-728-3306

Hours of Operation
Monday - Friday 8:30 - 4:30

Every state and county therein has well documented requirements for food service of all kinds. You are not specific about what the health department did or did not tell you but there is no doubt that there is a Jefferson County health department and website and an office and they most definitely have standards.

Contact the office as Pete has suggested. They will have a Sanitary Code book or similar document. Every health department has them and hands them out for free so that business owners like yourself can be in compliance.If the answer you are looking for is not covered in the book, make a written request detailing what you want to know and get a reply in writing that outlines their answer and the state regulation their answer is based on. Keep the answer together with any info they give you.

Find them because under no circumstances do you want them to come looking for you. Make no mistake. Operating without health department blessing is like begging for a really bad day.


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## alisha nicole (Apr 7, 2010)

this is an ancient thread, but i just had to share, that in contacting the health department to arrange a meeting, they refused to see me. they have no handout or sanitation code booklet outside of an application to open a food service establishment. they sent a representative to a market vendors' meeting so that confusion about the local health code could be eliminated; i don't think there was a single question asked that the head of the health department didn't answer with "i don't know."

and now, when you apply for a food handler's card, they no longer give you an actual tb test. they don't even look at you or ask how you are feeling. they have you fill out a sheet that offers you the opportunity to check boxes next to a list of tuberculosis symptoms, and if you don't? congratulations, it's safe for you to handle food to be served to anyone, including the ill or elderly.


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## flipflopgirl (Jun 27, 2012)

This is OT but wanted to comment about the declining rate of mandatory TB testing.

I live in Texas and we have a huge amt of people that come here from south of the border to live and work.

Scant to none have ever had a TB test  ( not even gonna mention immunizations).

This is slowly changing but not all come here with the intention of following the immigration heath laws.

My county HD chose one high school and TB tested a random sample of students.

35% of those students tested positive and were treated.

IMO we should be screening more not less (esp with the escalating cases of TB that are resistant to therapy).

mimi

edit....

Assuming this Health Department employee is paid with your tax dollars....

"I don't know" is not acceptable.

Start with their supervisor and keep going up the chain of command until you get some relief.

Be sure to keep a good log of name and dates to feed to the system (cuz I am pretty sure it will not be resolved with just one complaint).

Good luck.

m.


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