A deli marks a pan of sliced cheese with a 4-hour discard time under time as a public health control. Two hours in, business is slow, and a worker wants to put the cheese back in the cooler and erase the mark to reuse it tomorrow. What should the manager explain?
a.That is fine as long as a probe shows the cheese still below 70°F when it goes back into the cooler, since it stayed in the safe range
b.Once food is placed under time as a public health control, it cannot go back to temperature control; it must be sold, served, or discarded by the marked time
c.The cheese can be moved to the freezer for the rest of the day, which stops bacterial growth and resets the four-hour clock once it is thawed for service tomorrow
d.The cheese can go back into the cooler, and the same 4-hour discard mark can be carried over, rewritten on the pan, and used again when the deli opens tomorrow
Explanation
Time as a public health control is a one-way commitment: the food gave up temperature control, so bacteria may have begun growing, and returning it to the cooler does not reverse that growth. A reading below 70°F does not buy the cheese back into temperature control, freezing holds bacteria rather than removing them, and the clock cannot be carried to another day. The marked discard time stands, and unsold cheese must be thrown out when it expires.
Law Reference: FDA Food Code §3-501.19Practice all 500 questions free — no signup required.
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