Tag Archives: Top Chef

UK TV chefs ‘fail on basic hygiene’

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BBC News reports that Dr Layla Jader, of the National Public Health Service for Wales, said at the British Medical Association conference in Edinburgh that TV chefs are setting a bad example by failing to follow basic hygiene standards, and that programmes often did not wash vegetables before using them or separate uncooked meat from other food, raising the risk of food poisoning.

"I really get frustrated, I’ve seen it so many times. They bring in the vegetables, they open the bag and they make the salad straight from unwashed vegetables. They do it for the sake of expedience, but these programmes are watched by millions of people.

"It’s irresponsible. If they are going to do something that’s not healthy they should say: ‘We are in a hurry but please wash the salad and vegetables before you serve it’."

A spokeswoman for Ready Steady Cook said the programme followed the "very highest standards."

Celebrity Masterchef stated,

"Before contestants are allowed to cook they are thoroughly briefed by our qualified home economists on all aspects of hygienic food preparation. In addition they are also monitored whilst cooking as we take the health of everyone involved in the programme extremely seriously."

The problem is the highest standards sorta suck. And for the apologists who say that cleaning and handwashing occur off-camera … I doubt it. It’s easy to mention hygiene without preaching. Who wants to eat poop?

Mathiasen, L.A., Chapman, B.J., Lacroix, B.J. and Powell, D.A. 2004. Spot the mistake: Television cooking shows as a source of food safety information, Food Protection Trends 24(5): 328-334.

Consumers receive information on food preparation from a variety of sources. Numerous studies conducted over the past six years demonstrate that television is one of the primary sources for North Americans. This research reports on an examination and categorization of messages that television food and cooking programs provide to viewers about preparing food safely. During June 2002 and 2003, television food and cooking programs were recorded and reviewed, using a defined list of food safety practices based on criteria established by Food Safety Network researchers. Most surveyed programs were shown on Food Network Canada, a specialty cable channel. On average, 30 percent of the programs viewed were produced in Canada, with the remainder produced in the United States or United Kingdom. Sixty hours of content analysis revealed that the programs contained a total of 916 poor food-handling incidents. When negative food handling behaviors were compared to positive food handling behaviors, it was found that for each positive food handling behavior observed, 13 negative behaviors were observed. Common food safety errors included a lack of hand washing, cross-contamination and time-temperature violations. While television food and cooking programs are an entertainment source, there is an opportunity to improve their content so as to promote safe food handling.

Gordon Ramsey has a problem with food processing

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Chef Gordon Ramsay told the BBC that British restaurants should be fined if they serve fruit and vegetables which are not in season, and that fruit and vegetables should be locally-sourced and only on menus when in season.

"There should be stringent laws, licensing laws, to make sure produce is only used in season and season only. If we don’t restrict our movements within this industry of seasonal-produce only, then the whole thing will spiral out of control."

Ramsay also went on to vent his anger at fellow TV chef Delia Smith, whose latest book, How to Cheat at Cooking, encourages people to mix together ready-made food rather than cook from scratch if they are short of time or on a tight budget, adding,

"I would expect students struggling on £15 a week to survive eating from a can but the nation’s favourite, all-time icon reducing us down to using frozen, canned food. It’s an insult. And it makes our lives, from a chef’s point of view, a lot harder. Here we are trying to establish a reputation across the world for this country’s food and along comes Delia and tips it out of a can. That hurts."

Me, I’m a fan of freezing, canning, fresh and whatever. It’s about mixing it up. Frozen corn, peas (left) and others, canned tomatoes and sauces, the garden out back, Amy and I got it all (and enjoyed our first spinach and lettuce salad of the season this evening, with frozen scallops, which don’t grow so well in Manhattan — Kansas).

I’ll have more to say about this in the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, Oxfam’s head of research, Duncan Green, said he was sure "the million farmers in east Africa who rely on exporting their goods to scrape a living would see Gordon Ramsay’s assertions as a recipe for disaster."

Top Chef tailgating

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Ryan learned on Top Chef last night that California-style tailgating doesn’t play too well in the heartland — or at least, Chicago.

Accurately measuring whether food is safe or not is also not high on the Top Chef to-do list. Sure, the Australian dude (or New Zealand, the show refers to him interchangeably, which will equally please the Aussies and Kiwis) was chastised for being unsanitary — cross contamination and double dipping — but use a tip-sensitive digital thermometer to ensure safety and quality. Sick it in.

Check out our youtube video of tailgaters at Kansas State’s last home game – against Missouri — back in Nov. 2007.

Dude, wash your hands

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Proper handwashing with the proper tools — soap, water and paper towel — can significantly reduce the number of foodborne and other illnesses.

So says the International Food Safety Network.

People should be washing their hands before handling food and, for example:
• after using the toilet;
• when entering the kitchen to prepare food;
• before handling ready-to-eat food;
• after handling any raw food;
• after changing diapers;
• after playing with or cleaning up after pets; and,
• after handling garbage.

The steps in proper handwashing, as concluded from the preponderance of available evidence, are:

• wet hands with water;
• use enough soap to build a good lather;
• scrub hands vigorously, creating friction and reaching all areas of the fingers and hands for at least 10 seconds to loosen pathogens on the fingers and hands;
• rinse hands with thorough amounts of water while continuing to rub hands; and,
• dry hands with paper towel.

Water temperature is not a critical factor — water hot enough to kill dangerous bacteria and viruses would scald hands — so use whatever is comfortable.

The friction from rubbing hands with paper towels helps remove additional bacteria and viruses.

Next time you visit a bathroom that is missing soap, water or paper towels, let someone in charge know. And next time you see someone skip out on the suds in the bathroom, look at them and say, “Dude, wash your hands!”

And Don’t Eat Poop.

UK celebrity chefs focus on animal welfare: at some point they may focus on their own food safety practices

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Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall (left, not exactly as pictured), two of Britain’s top celebrity chefs, are launching a campaign get consumers to eat more welfare friendly reared chicken by revealing some of the welfare issues in poultry production.

ThePoultrySite reports that on January 11, Jamie Oliver will host a gala dinner to demonstrate the reality of how chickens live and die.

The program is part the Big Food Fight, a season of programming that aims to raise awareness and encourage debate about food production, animal welfare and healthy eating.

That’s great. I eagerly await the day Jamie and other celebrity chefs pay attention to their own food safety habits. A 2004 paper we published based on 60 hours of detailed viewing of television cooking shows — including Jamie Oliver’s – found that an unsafe food handling practice occurred about every four minutes, and that for every safe food handling practice observed, we observed 13 unsafe practices. The most common errors were inadequate hand washing and cross-contamination between raw and ready-to-eat foods.

Guess we can’t expect much of U.K. celebrity chefs when the best their own, taxpayer funded food safety group can come up with in terms of advice is cook your holiday bird until it’s piping hot.

Jamie, Hugh, let’s see you stick it in.

Top-10 dining experiences?

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A site called Trifter.com lists the top-10 ridiculously unique dining experiences people should attempt before they die.

1. Toilet

The toilet-themed restaurant is nothing new in China. Instead of serviette or napkins, customers wipe their hands and mouths using toilet paper rolls The restaurant is also decorated with various shaped urinals and toilet seats on the wall.

2. Hospital

Aurum is a newly opened hospital-themed restaurant in Clark Quay, Singapore. As you enter the Aurum, the restaurant’s reception resembles a morgue. The lightings remind you of the ones in the operating theatre. Customers sit on golden wheelchairs and the meals are served on the operating tables. The cutleries used for the meal include syringes.

3. Pet-Friendly

In 2005, Dorothy Moore opened The Dining Dog Café in Edmonds, WA, a pet-friendly restaurant for dogs and their owners.

4. Condom                                

The Cabbage and Condom is a popular condom-themed restaurant in Thailand that promotes safe sex and family planning. The menu consists of mostly condom-themed dishes, for example "condom salad" and the after meal mint which is normally distributed after each meal is replaced with a packet of condom.


5. Bed

Duvet, a restaurant in New York city features 30 customized, designer dining beds as the "seats" with tables, catered for extra comfort. Customers are also offered to wear customized bedroom slippers when they enter the restaurant.


6. Rude Service

If you like to experience rude service you can go to the Dick’s Last Resort in Chicago. This is where you can not only enjoy a wide range of choices in its menu but also have lots of fun from watching the waiters who will inflict rude jokes and humor upon the customers (including you).

7. Prison

The Jail is a prison-themed restaurant in Taiwan. The layout is just like any other prison with sliding iron bars and metallic aluminum floors with waitresses dressed as sexy wardens. Customers will be given the option to be handcuffed and taken to their own prison cell with a dining table and comfortable seats. This is where patrons can enjoy good food and soothing music.


8. Anger Release

If you are stress and need an alternative punch bag, you can visit Rising Sun Anger Release Bar in Nanjing, China. Customers can release their anger caused by stress and problems in daily life. They are allowed to throw and smash the plates and glasses or even hit the waiters who have been given special training for the job.

9. Body Platter

Hadaka Sushi, a sushi restaurant in Los Angeles, USA, introduces a sensual concept of "Nyotaimori" which basically means female body as the food platter. Usually the woman chosen for the task is a beautiful model who will then lay down as still as possible on a serving table. Most parts of her body will be covered with banana leaves where clusters of sushi will be placed on them.


10. Dark

For those who would like to experience dining in total darkness, you can visit Nocti Vagus Dark Restaurant in Berlin, Germany. The well-trained waiters who will serve you are blind. Customers will be entertained with special cultural programs also in darkness.

It’s undercooked… or is it?

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Almost two weeks ago Top Chef’s cheftestant Sara M. was sent home after two consecutive undercooked dishes. Admittedly, her halibut in the Quickfire challenge was raw in the middle, but she didn’t agree that she served raw chicken at the French Culinary Institute. She told the judges, “I sliced the chicken myself, and I checked every single one,” and to her colleagues she insisted, “That chicken was not $#%-in raw, cause I cut every single one.” Still, Judge Gail Simmons said her chicken was pink, and as the night went on, her chicken became raw in the retelling.

Does the chicken in this picture look cooked to you? Color is a lousy indicator of the doneness of chicken. The pictured chicken comes from Pete Snyder, meat thermometer guru, and has been cooked to the required 165 F. Sara would have had a stronger case, had her flavors not been off, by using a meat thermometer and having hard evidence to back up her dish. Cutting the chicken and visually checking the internal temperature is not a proven food safety method.

Just yesterday the National Pork Board reportedly began their case for lowering the recommended cooking temperatures for pork from the currently approved 160F. Board member Steve Larsen said, "We’ve conducted an initial retail study and risk assessment, and the science of safety is definitely there to support the lowering." How would you know your pork is a few degrees off from optimal taste and safe cooking temperature just by looking at it? Ask pork superstar cheftestant Howie. He won once with perfectly cooked lamb chops that were verified with a thermometer.

New iFSN infosheet — Dirty Finger Al

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One of the best ever monikers in any food safety story came out courtesy of our friends at healthinspection.com.  Dirty Finger Al inspired today’s infosheet which can be found here.

Dirty Finger Al got his name because he is allegedly “grotesque in his hygiene because of filthy hands and fingers and open, oozing sores while cooking.”   And he’s a chef. Yum.

Restaurant Wars

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In last night’s episode of Bravo’s Top Chef, the winning team used a meat thermometer. While this is a rarity within the celebrity chef circle, at least based on what we see in the final cut, it’s the second time I’ve seen one used on Top Chef this season (both times the chefs became winners, and both times they were cooking lamb). Last night Quatre’s sous-chef Howie wielded the same sort of digital tip-sensitive thermometer that we use at home. He had the unsliced chops, on their side, and inserted the thermometer into the middle of the meat. (Of course, this week the cheftestants also had head judge Chef Tom Colicchio watching them in the kitchen.) While Howie’s former nemesis, Joey, called his chops, “Typical Howie, undercooked!” the judges said they were cooked beautifully and perfectly. They had ordered their chops rare.

For those of you interested in trying this at home, there is no simple answer for finding the correct temperature of perfect-rare and safe lamb chops. Some recipe sites I consulted recommended a temperature of 125 F-130 degrees for medium rare. However, according to USDA for beef, veal and lamb (steaks, roasts and chops), medium rare is at 145 °F and medium is 160 °F.

Hormel proposes the following:

“Traditional guidelines state that lamb cooked very rare, rare, medium rare, or medium should have an internal temperature ranging between 115ºF to 145°F. With increased concern over bacteria that may be present in the internal portions of lamb, it is now recommended that whole lamb cuts be cooked to a final internal temperature (after resting) of not less than 145°F.”

While Howie may have hit the right temperature to please the judges, no one knows what his magic thermometer reading actually was. Still, I’m glad to see a thermometer once again on the show, used correctly (i.e inserted into the thickest portion of the meat), and this time for more than a second.

Top Chefs… Stick it in

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Last night on Bravo’s Top Chef, Micah got eliminated for her bad-tasting but healthy meatloaf. Last week, Micah caught my attention as she used a meat thermometer in the barbeque elimination challenge. She came in the top three for her perfectly grilled lamb chops.

This is the same show that has had openly sick (or at least nauseated) chefs cooking anyway because they didn’t want to be kicked out of the competition (they wouldn’t get work in Michigan, where the state has proposed that someone with vomiting, diarrhea or a sore throat with fever could not return until 24 hours after the symptoms are gone).

And last night when the oven wasn’t working and Cheftestant Sara M’s chicken didn’t get done, she handpicked and served the pieces that looked cooked… no meat thermometer in sight, at least to the viewers.

Although Micah’s gone now, hats off to her.  Often depressed and crying, missing her daughter, Micah still had the presence of mind to stick in the meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of her barbecued meat. Whether she did it for accuracy or safety, Micah’s choice to use a thermometer stood out. How often do you see one on a TV cooking show? Perhaps the climate on the reality cooking circuit will change.

In 2004, Doug’s laboratory reported that, based on 60 hours of detailed viewing of television cooking shows, an unsafe food handling practice occurred about every four minutes, and that for every safe food handling practice observed, they observed 13 unsafe practices. The most common errors were inadequate hand washing and cross-contamination between raw and ready-to-eat foods.

Hey, reality cooking show producers: serve up another helping of food safety.