During service, a manager finds a pan of cooked sausages sitting off the grill with no time mark and no temperature control. The line cook thinks it has been there about an hour. What should the manager do?
a.Discard the sausages; food held without temperature control and without the required time marking cannot be verified as safe
b.Mark the pan now with a discard time set 4 hours from the moment the line cook believes it came off the grill, then keep serving
c.Put the pan back under temperature control, reheat the sausages to 165°F, and continue service with a fresh time mark on the pan
d.Serve these unmarked sausages ahead of the newer batch, so the oldest product moves off the line first during the dinner rush
Explanation
Time as a public health control only works when the discard time is marked from the moment food leaves temperature control. An unmarked pan cannot be verified, and a cook's estimate is not documentation, so a mark written after the fact, a 165°F reheat, or selling the oldest pan first all leave the same unknown. The safe and compliant action is to throw the food out and retrain the team.
Law Reference: FDA Food Code §3-501.19Practice all 500 questions free — no signup required.
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