Not only that, its not even a dedicated food sink, like a produce washing station or anything (which still wouldn't be good!) that looks just like a standard triple sink, which means its thawing in the same place they're washing their dishes, which, YIKES on many levels
OP start job hunting and report this, you'll save who knows how many people from getting sick.
U can if it’s a prep sink, (which it could be) and it’s cleaned and sanitized, (which it’s clearly not). No doubt it’s disgusting. Literally the first point made in the post I was replying to was that it’s not a dedicated food sink. That was the particular point I was replying, so that was, in fact the point.
I used to deliver ice to restaurants. One day I went into a chinese restaurant kitchen, and a guy was sitting in one side of a 2 compartment sink. The other compartment was full of ducks. I'm not sure what he was doing - I just made my delivery and left.
Edit: the ducks were dressed and de-feathered, with heads still on and completely filled the sink. (Sorry for the confusion for those who thought they were swimming around.”
Soooo, does anyone else have the rights to making a t-shirt or can I call dibs on behalf of this subreddit? You're gonna have to give me 24h to deliver a mockup I've gotta work in the morning
OMFG I just assumed living ducks which is batshit crazy I need my vitals checked why did I think they were just paddling around what doctor do I see for that
Okay I was like, either this dude REALLY knows his raw poultry or them ducks were swimming around.
I guess it didn’t occur to me that we’re mostly intact…
Them 'just not knowing' is all the more reason the health department should explain it to management and not leave it in house. It's the whole point of servesafe. Otherwise people make up their own rules. What the hell else are they doing? Reusing toxin buckets for food prep?
Source, former inspector. And as to how bad it gets my initial reaction to this photo was please not in the sink overnight and I have walked into kitchens thawing overnight. Shrimps left to thaw overnight in the sink when their inspection was my first stop of my day.
No food can contact the drain area at any time. Even in a designated food preparation sink. This is why you just don't use sinks for food prep. The amount of bacteria in a drain pipe is significant and you cannot sanitize it properly. (A string of fat could easily fall down the drain while still attached to the chicken and be pulled back out of the drain, for example)
Unless you have some special drain/plug combo that can sufficiently seal with no nooks and crannies, just don't.
Follow food hygiene laws AND ask yourself: would I eat that?
I have never heard this, a real food prep sink is a stainless steel cube with a valve that shuts off the drain and can be fully sanitized. Are you sitting a specific food law?
After chivegate we let in people to comment who don't know what they are talking about. Food prep sinks are perfectly safe and used all the time in restaurants.
Yeah, and with chatgpt, casuals can cosplay and sound like they know what they're talking about - at least to the 1.5 million who've joined in the last 2 months who've never stepped foot into a kitchen before.
Have you ever worked in a restaurant? You don't sound like you have. Never thawed food in a prep sink under running cold water? This sub I swear talks shit about things that happen all the time, that are safe practices.
I've thawed meat under running water but it would always be in a bowl or metal container and left in the vacuum sealed bag that the water was running over. I have never seen someone put meat directly into a sink or had it sitting in water and that would absolutely not fly where I've worked. Wild.
Thawing in a vacuum sealed bag is worse, oxygen free environments are how we get botulism. Sounds like you need to go relearn the basics before lecturing others.
Botulism incubation times are much longer than it takes to thaw foods in a bag, which is why the FDA code allows for any product to be vacuum sealed for no longer than 48 hours without a HACCP plan.
It's a health code violation here to thaw food while it is vacuum sealed, no matter how long it takes. Fish is especially dangerous as the types of C. Botulinum found on seafood can grow in refrigerator temperatures.
Like I said, unless you have a proper food prep sink w/ drain, you cannot sanitize a standard drain pipe properly.
You just claiming it's safe is hilarious. You sound like a pub chef.
Not sure about America laws, but in Australia:
Standard 3.2.2 - Food Safety Practices and General Requirements
Clause 19(1): A food handler must take all practicable measures to avoid the likelihood of food being contaminated.
Clause 20(1): A food business must ensure that food contact surfaces are clean and sanitised. A sink basin and drain are not considered cleanable to a food-contact standard.
Standard 3.2.2 - Food Safety Practices and General Requirements
Clause 19(1): A food handler must take all practicable measures to avoid the likelihood of food being contaminated.
Clause 20(1): A food business must ensure that food contact surfaces are clean and sanitised. A sink basin and drain are not considered cleanable to a food-contact standard.
Plus common sense and understanding, a generic, unspecialised sink/drain, is absolutely not cleanable to a food contact standard.
Alot of people have been in the industry a while. Standards change as time passes. Thats why its important to renew you certifications. Some don't and get left behind still doing gross stuff. Even with a closable drain you'd still just have chicken floating in water which is disgusting.
I would bet the "grime line" is from a sink full of chicken maybe thawing in water. Not ideal, but not a massive deal. Did you check temps or find out how long they had been there or just come straight to reddit to ask the hive mind what you should do?
Just searched it again to be sure, yes some meats can be thawed in vacuum sealed packaging, but not fish(also fresh onions, raw mushrooms, and raw garlic) because of botulism that can grow in zero oxygen environments.
This is not true. Botulism incubation periods take a while, so FDA code allows any food product to be in a bag for no more than 48 hours before you have to open the bag.
I think the idea is to decrease the risk, just one of those things it’s better to do than to not. I’m thinking slack thawing, but yes because running under water will be a short period you should be fine.
I am all for minimizing health risks but i really wonder how our ancestors did survive this non, perfect sanitized Millenniums ... and this, most probably being more healthy than us...
I am sure that that is a common tile choice, but I feel like I have been in that kitchen before. Did this spot open in uptown mpls area in the last few years?
In all seriousness, this kind of shit goes on ALL THE FUCKING TIME in restaurants. I have been selling various products and services to restaurants for over 10 years, and you would not BELIEVE the shit that goes on back there.
Once, I spotted a meatball under a mixer, and I thought oh well, shit happens. That SAME MEATBALL was there 6 weeks later. Another spot, I walked through the back door and there was a guy smoking a butt while hosing off pork chops (with a garden hose) and chucking them into a yard waste barrel full of water.
You’re going to bring it up to your boss? He’s the one who gives it the ok in the first place. You’re new there, surely. Sorry for calling you Surely 😄
There are no letters in the alphabet that can spell the noise I made at this. Say something to the head chef, sure, but if this is "among other things" I have a bad feeling your chef already knows and you're not going to change the culture by telling them.
Isn't this just a super-efficient way to spread salmonella as quickly and broadly as possible through like...the whole plumbing system and all kitchen surfaces?
That looks like a chicken grime line.
Which would more than likely mean the chicken was just sitting in a sink full of water, which is a big no no.
Not only that, its not even a dedicated food sink, like a produce washing station or anything (which still wouldn't be good!) that looks just like a standard triple sink, which means its thawing in the same place they're washing their dishes, which, YIKES on many levels
OP start job hunting and report this, you'll save who knows how many people from getting sick.
It could be a 2 or 3 compartment sink, you can only see 1.1 compartments, and there are definitely 2 compartment food prep sinks.
I don’t care what kind of sink it is or where it is in the kitchen. It’s gross. Use a god damn Cambro.
This 👆🏼
Idk it may just be e a 2 bay sink. Most 3 compartments have the faucet directly over the middle compartment. I could obv be wrong.
That’s not the point. The point is you’re not supposed to raw dog the chicken straight into the sink…
U can if it’s a prep sink, (which it could be) and it’s cleaned and sanitized, (which it’s clearly not). No doubt it’s disgusting. Literally the first point made in the post I was replying to was that it’s not a dedicated food sink. That was the particular point I was replying, so that was, in fact the point.
Idk where the fuck you live but that’s a health code violation in my state…
That’s a violation in every state
As it should be. Kinda disappointed that there are people in this thread excusing it…
*unless that is a dedicated prep sink that isn’t a produce prep sink, in which case this is fine.
I used to deliver ice to restaurants. One day I went into a chinese restaurant kitchen, and a guy was sitting in one side of a 2 compartment sink. The other compartment was full of ducks. I'm not sure what he was doing - I just made my delivery and left.
Edit: the ducks were dressed and de-feathered, with heads still on and completely filled the sink. (Sorry for the confusion for those who thought they were swimming around.”
Soooo, does anyone else have the rights to making a t-shirt or can I call dibs on behalf of this subreddit? You're gonna have to give me 24h to deliver a mockup I've gotta work in the morning
Please do
!remindme 24h
I will be messaging you in 1 day on 2025-12-13 13:36:18 UTC to remind you of this link
6 OTHERS CLICKED THIS LINK to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam.
Parent commenter can delete this message to hide from others.
Living ducks?
OMFG I just assumed living ducks which is batshit crazy I need my vitals checked why did I think they were just paddling around what doctor do I see for that
You are not alone. I also assumed it was a sink full of chef and live ducks. I too would have just made the delivery and walked away.
I made the same assumption. I mean, if the guy was alive in sitting in the sink, why couldn't the ducks by alive and sitting in the other sink?
Wait, the guy was alive, right?
Dawwee chef was just duck sitting
No, they were dressed with no feathers but heads still on.
Okay I was like, either this dude REALLY knows his raw poultry or them ducks were swimming around. I guess it didn’t occur to me that we’re mostly intact…
"I’m not locked in here with you, you’re locked in here with me”
Gd just put them in a Cambro in the sink.
Or a lexan. Or or or hear me out and this is crazy but just be responsible and pull it into the walkin at the appropriate time.
Don’t be ridiculous. You’re supposed to waste extra time doing it wrong.
You sound insane.
https://preview.redd.it/phhfge79gr6g1.jpeg?width=388&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5b2e3c6c382df4cc207e84c6a04f69be523a4007
Hate to break it to you, but they weren't thawing the chicken, they was washing it.
https://preview.redd.it/jwz0tc3p7t6g1.jpeg?width=862&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bf5dcfccc0e4a6453e4eafc90afeaf9708345158
both. Do both.
Do both and head chef immediately knows who blew the whistle. This is a choose your own adventure, and for me it's either A or B, not A and B.
Head chef. Then if no positive response/action taken by head chef, find a new job and then report.
i agree. no need to rush to report something if it can be corrected in house. lots of reputation on the line. I put my money on them just not knowing.
if they did know, that sink wouldn’t look as clean as it is. even the legs are shiny. I can just tell somebody cares in there.
Them 'just not knowing' is all the more reason the health department should explain it to management and not leave it in house. It's the whole point of servesafe. Otherwise people make up their own rules. What the hell else are they doing? Reusing toxin buckets for food prep?
Source, former inspector. And as to how bad it gets my initial reaction to this photo was please not in the sink overnight and I have walked into kitchens thawing overnight. Shrimps left to thaw overnight in the sink when their inspection was my first stop of my day.
Everything a d the chicken sink.
No food can contact the drain area at any time. Even in a designated food preparation sink. This is why you just don't use sinks for food prep. The amount of bacteria in a drain pipe is significant and you cannot sanitize it properly. (A string of fat could easily fall down the drain while still attached to the chicken and be pulled back out of the drain, for example)
Unless you have some special drain/plug combo that can sufficiently seal with no nooks and crannies, just don't.
Follow food hygiene laws AND ask yourself: would I eat that?
I have never heard this, a real food prep sink is a stainless steel cube with a valve that shuts off the drain and can be fully sanitized. Are you sitting a specific food law?
After chivegate we let in people to comment who don't know what they are talking about. Food prep sinks are perfectly safe and used all the time in restaurants.
Yeah, and with chatgpt, casuals can cosplay and sound like they know what they're talking about - at least to the 1.5 million who've joined in the last 2 months who've never stepped foot into a kitchen before.
Heard
What hes trying to say is you cannot do water defrosting with an open drain because the water mixes with the crud in the drain pipe
Have you ever worked in a restaurant? You don't sound like you have. Never thawed food in a prep sink under running cold water? This sub I swear talks shit about things that happen all the time, that are safe practices.
I've thawed meat under running water but it would always be in a bowl or metal container and left in the vacuum sealed bag that the water was running over. I have never seen someone put meat directly into a sink or had it sitting in water and that would absolutely not fly where I've worked. Wild.
Chicken. Some places marinate like that.
Thawing in a vacuum sealed bag is worse, oxygen free environments are how we get botulism. Sounds like you need to go relearn the basics before lecturing others.
Botulism incubation times are much longer than it takes to thaw foods in a bag, which is why the FDA code allows for any product to be vacuum sealed for no longer than 48 hours without a HACCP plan.
It's a health code violation here to thaw food while it is vacuum sealed, no matter how long it takes. Fish is especially dangerous as the types of C. Botulinum found on seafood can grow in refrigerator temperatures.
Like I said, unless you have a proper food prep sink w/ drain, you cannot sanitize a standard drain pipe properly.
You just claiming it's safe is hilarious. You sound like a pub chef.
Not sure about America laws, but in Australia:
Standard 3.2.2 - Food Safety Practices and General Requirements
Clause 19(1): A food handler must take all practicable measures to avoid the likelihood of food being contaminated.
Clause 20(1): A food business must ensure that food contact surfaces are clean and sanitised. A sink basin and drain are not considered cleanable to a food-contact standard.
[removed]
Don't be an asshole. Just don't.
[deleted]
No...? Tuna steak is super common on menus near me.
Nope.
Link to this? Never heard of this or have gotten dinged from it by the HI.
Here in Australia:
Standard 3.2.2 - Food Safety Practices and General Requirements
Clause 19(1): A food handler must take all practicable measures to avoid the likelihood of food being contaminated.
Clause 20(1): A food business must ensure that food contact surfaces are clean and sanitised. A sink basin and drain are not considered cleanable to a food-contact standard.
Plus common sense and understanding, a generic, unspecialised sink/drain, is absolutely not cleanable to a food contact standard.
Alot of people have been in the industry a while. Standards change as time passes. Thats why its important to renew you certifications. Some don't and get left behind still doing gross stuff. Even with a closable drain you'd still just have chicken floating in water which is disgusting.
they do this at work all the time. and serve floor burgers. and dip their fingers to taste stuff and put their fingers back in
You should find a better job.
What are you talking about?
Season that yardbird and let’s get cookin
Call the cops, yo
I would bet the "grime line" is from a sink full of chicken maybe thawing in water. Not ideal, but not a massive deal. Did you check temps or find out how long they had been there or just come straight to reddit to ask the hive mind what you should do?
Sail mAh nilluh
😂😂😂
Ma'am this is a Loblaws
Are you sure? Were they thawing the chicken in the sink with water? It looks like it could be impurities from the chicken that left those lines.
Stop being rational
Stick a fork in it and call it good after dumping some boiling hot water on those bitches.
Clearly you haven’t spent any time in SE Asia.
It is a good opportunity to pick up a Clostridium Difficile infection is what it is.
op... is that a part of a three compartment sink...
When the assholes at US food give you frozen chicken... again.
You typically would defrost meat in a vacuum sealed bag in a cambro under a constant stream of running water. This is not good
Just searched it again to be sure, yes some meats can be thawed in vacuum sealed packaging, but not fish(also fresh onions, raw mushrooms, and raw garlic) because of botulism that can grow in zero oxygen environments.
This is not true. Botulism incubation periods take a while, so FDA code allows any food product to be in a bag for no more than 48 hours before you have to open the bag.
I think the idea is to decrease the risk, just one of those things it’s better to do than to not. I’m thinking slack thawing, but yes because running under water will be a short period you should be fine.
This
I am all for minimizing health risks but i really wonder how our ancestors did survive this non, perfect sanitized Millenniums ... and this, most probably being more healthy than us...
Feel free to down vote me :)
Do both
Yum
I am sure that that is a common tile choice, but I feel like I have been in that kitchen before. Did this spot open in uptown mpls area in the last few years?
No seasoning, a criminal offence right there !
Yeah so that's a paddlin
In all seriousness, this kind of shit goes on ALL THE FUCKING TIME in restaurants. I have been selling various products and services to restaurants for over 10 years, and you would not BELIEVE the shit that goes on back there.
Once, I spotted a meatball under a mixer, and I thought oh well, shit happens. That SAME MEATBALL was there 6 weeks later. Another spot, I walked through the back door and there was a guy smoking a butt while hosing off pork chops (with a garden hose) and chucking them into a yard waste barrel full of water.
Hypothetically if that's a prep sink and not a dish sink then its acceptable, but we know it's a dish sink.
You’re going to bring it up to your boss? He’s the one who gives it the ok in the first place. You’re new there, surely. Sorry for calling you Surely 😄
Quit and immediately report.
Uh yeah…..that’s a major fucking no no
Get a friend to walk into the kitchen like a crazy customer when chef is there. Then say: He might sue us if he saw the chicken bucket of horrors
There are no letters in the alphabet that can spell the noise I made at this. Say something to the head chef, sure, but if this is "among other things" I have a bad feeling your chef already knows and you're not going to change the culture by telling them.
get out. get out get out get out get oooouuuut.
It is if its a sanitized food prep sink.
That doesn't look sanitized prior and doubtdully even after.
Wash yo meat
Isn't this just a super-efficient way to spread salmonella as quickly and broadly as possible through like...the whole plumbing system and all kitchen surfaces?