The Wednesday Walk-In Failure

The box has been above 41°F for an unknown period of up to 7 hours 40 minutes, but the last verified compliant reading was 11:00 p.m., so the maximum time in the danger zone is bounded by that log.

• Raw chicken thighs: discard. Raw poultry is a TCS food; even if still cold, the time above 41°F is uncontrolled and the item was not being cooked immediately.
• Cooked rice: discard. Cooked rice is a classic Bacillus cereus risk and was already a leftover.
• Beef stock: discard. It was cooled Tuesday evening, so it was already in its cooling window when the failure occurred; you cannot verify it met the 135→70°F in 2 h / 70→41°F in 4 h standard, and rewarming does not reset the clock.
• Sliced deli turkey: discard. RTE food held above 41°F for an unknown window; Listeria risk.
• Whole lettuce heads: the only defensible candidate, but only if you can show the intact heads never entered the danger zone materially. Whole unbroken heads are not TCS food; the outer leaves are typically trimmed and discarded, and the interior is protected. However, the surface temperature of the box was 49°F, so the lettuce surface was warm.

Judgement: discard everything that is TCS. For the lettuce, the correct answer is to discard as well unless the operation has a written policy and can verify the heads were intact and the interior was ≤41°F - the burden of proof is on the operation, not the inspector. The chef's plan to keep the stock is wrong: the stock is the highest-risk item because its cooling history is unverifiable.

1. Stop service of affected items and tag/hold them; do not let staff 'use it up' in specials.
2. Discard and document each item: product, quantity, lot/date, reason, time, initials. Keep the discard log - it is the evidence of active managerial control.
3. Move salvageable non-TCS items (intact produce, sealed shelf-stable goods) to a working unit and re-check temperature.
4. Repair the compressor and verify the box returns to ≤41°F before restocking; do not restock a box that has not been verified.
5. Re-temperature and log the box at least every 2 hours until repair is confirmed.
6. Assess the 4-hour rule for any food that was on the line or in prep during the failure window.
7. Notify the person in charge and, if the operation has a HACCP/AMC plan, file a corrective action record.
8. Communicate to staff at the pre-shift meeting: the root cause was an unmonitored overnight failure, so the fix is a temperature alarm or a documented overnight check, not just a repair.

The failure was not the compressor - it was the absence of monitoring. The porter saw water and did not check the box; the log stopped at 11:00 p.m.

Controls:

• Install a temperature alarm on the walk-in with a remote notification to the manager on duty.
• Add a documented overnight check (e.g., 2:00 a.m.) to the opening/closing checklist, with a signature.
• Train the porter: a puddle is a trigger to check temperature, not just to mop.
• Add a daily verification that logs are complete, not just present.

Verification:

• Review alarm history and overnight logs weekly for 4 weeks.
• Conduct a surprise check: pull the last 30 days of logs and confirm no gaps.
• Re-train and re-test staff on the corrective action procedure.
• If the operation uses HACCP, update the hazard analysis to reflect the cold-holding CCP and its monitoring frequency.