A Kitchen Nightmare, Tales from our School Kitchen
Jonathan C Ouellette
The Chef’s Academy
FS 1010 Food Safety and Sanitation
Kitchen Inspection Project
Chef Kelley Jefferson
December 12, 2014

A KITCHEN NIGHTMARE, TALES FROM OUR SCHOOL KITCHEN (This review sure is an incredible learning exercise especially for students who have little or no kitchen experience. I currently have been a student at The Chef’s Academy for six months, have participated in numerous events, completed my first professional kitchen lab and have cleaned up in the kitchens at least thirty times if not more. While doing this project and a bit of research on my inspection report I have learned a lot, most notably that kitchen appearances of cleanliness on the surface sure can cover up some underlying kitchen nightmares. In my inspection of our school kitchens there where several highlights and good productive and useful practices but the lack of attention to detail and the fact that not once in scool have I ever been presented with a cleaning schedule or any type of checklist for the classes to not miss what they don’t know or understand, this in my opinion has cause some easily correctable violations to go unnoticed. Here are the good, the bad, and a couple kightmares from my December, 21, 2014 kitchen inspection of The Chef’s Academy.
First off let’s start with a few basic but essential positive finds. The inspections of equipment functionality and temperature checks went flawless. I chose to start here due to what I thought would be most important in preparing, cooking, and serving food safely. I inspected all of the freezers, refrigerators and cooking equipment, all passed very well I wasn’t able to find any inoperable equipment or temperature abuse. All seals and safety measures seem to be working and in good repair. Serve Safe reiterates these standards over and over again and is why I chose to start here (National Restaurant Association, 2012, 7-4, 7-5).
After a successful look into our school equipment I went onto the hood systems and ventilation. This seemed like the next most important thing to me due to the fact that as chef’s we can’t cook if the place burns down. In my researching this paper and reading up a bit fire seems to be second most listed reason for restaurant failures behind food safety. Luckily our school has the best system out there it’s even air conditioned. All of the vent, drains, timers and fans were operable, with sprinklers installed on every corner. Maintenance and emergency contact info and phone numbers posted. I love our kitchens and can only hope to be lucky enough to have such a kitchen for myself after graduation (National Restaurant Association, 2012, 11-17).
Onto my third observation which was lighting. I chose to go here because occasionally I fill in at a nearby restaurant and one of the things I find frustrating is how dark it is even behind the line. I have even observed patrons having to use the light on their cell phones to read the menus to order. This was definitely worth reading up on. I read thru the NC food code and Serve Safe on this subject. To my surprise 20 ft., 50 ft., and 100 ft. candles of light is not a lot, but is what is required for safety reasons in a professional kitchen. I did measurements at work identifying objects and reading our hand washing sign at 50 ft. in a dark kitchen and was able to do so. Ohm, I suppose if they passed inspection our school kitchen is a beacon of the school. All lighting is working and is extremely bright and considerable well beyond what the NC food code requires, it’s a pass from me (N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, 2009, 6-303 pg. 172-173)
By the time I reached my fourth choice on my inspection list I didn’t think I would ever find anything wrong, so I decided to get on my hands and knees and check the floor. Surely I’ll find something here, my experience says this is the hardest part to get to and clean