Restaurants question

[MSP]

Ok so I have a question.

Like a lot of people I visit a lot of local burger joints that cook the great American burger were you hand patty it...toss it up on the griddle top and smash it and flip it and cook it.

What I have noticed is everyone of these restaurants does the following.

Hand patties the burger with no food safety gloves on...then toss it on the gridle top.

They then go on to cook the burger and smash and flip the burger with the same spatula...a lot of times they use 2 spatula for smashing, flipping and cooking.

And at everyone of these restaurants after the burger is flipped and cooked and the cheese is melted...they use the same spatula to take the burger off the gritle with and place on the fresh bun to serve.

Now the burgers are wonderful but isn't this cross contamination EVERY TIME.

Now I know every once is a while a cook is going to mess up but this is an issue that I see at every restaurant.

You would think with restaurants being inspected that they would have a process in place to keep from this happening....or am I wrong and this is not a food safety issue?

[deestafford]

A couple of comments.  First, when one mashed down on the patty it squishes the juice out of the meat and will most likely give the burger more crispness.   Second, I don't think there is a health problem with using the same spatula and turning raw meat and cooked meat with it.  The question may come up as to doing the same thing with a chicken breast.  Should you have two spatulas for that?  Or would it take one for each breast on the griddle?  Dee

[Sailor1]

I inspect a lot of restaurants for insurance purposes and using the same spatula for flipping burgers is the least of my concerns.  The front of the house may look clean and sanitary but you get to the kitchen and see what it looks like would make you never want to eat there.

How about the employee wearing gloves going to the cash register grabbing change and bills with a gloved hand and then going back and handling food.  Going to the restroom to see an employee coming out of the stall and not washing their hands?  Gloved employee handling raw chicken then grabbing a piece of beef with the same gloved hand?  You think if a piece of food drops on the floor it gets thrown out if no one is looking?

In my book there is a lot more exposure to food handling before it hits the grill than using the same spatula all day.  At least the food on the grill is being treated to some high temps to kill nasty stuff 

We don't eat out very much.  I know how my food is prepared and cooked.

[bbqchef]

See that all the time... just wrong.

Mike