Something that came out of the food safety infosheet video observation evaluation work we did a few years ago was that time pressures lead to risky practices. Poor handwashing and cross-contamination occurred when the kitchens were busy during breakfast and lunch rushes.

Maybe taking out the spikes in production demand and going to a commissary system is a safer one, we said.

Tim Carmen of The Washington Post posted an in-depth interview with food porn purveyor Greg Galy of Fig & Olive following last weeks Washington Daily investigative interview and talked about going away from a commissary system (which was linked to a 150+ case outbreak of Salmonella). But not for food safety reasons.

Galy clarifies what types of foods were made in a New York commissary and shipped to their outlets in DC and California (and elsewhere) as well as avoiding actually apologizing for making patrons sick. And doesn’t say much about the outbreak at all.

There hasn’t been anything related to salmonella in the ingredients. [Note: Investigators haven’t been able to trace the salmonella to any Fig & Olive ingredient.] They haven’t been able to find traces definitively. We still don’t know to this day exactly what happened. We took all measures and precaution at the time, I believe, to resolve what needed to be done. Again, I can’t really expand my comments on anything related to the process, the timing, the salmonella cases.

But he does touch on why they chose to use commercially prepared mayonnaise:

In regards to the comments that was made on the Hellmann’s mayonnaise, the mayonnaise made in-house [uses Hellmann’s] because of the safety concerns of utilizing raw eggs. That’s why they’re using a commercial mayonnaise. It’s actually recommended by safety consultants.