In the day I have worked a few markets that was set on 40 to 42, the main reason was the motors and equipment was old and it would ice up if you tried to run it any lower.

Like Fdarn said you cut a little faster and only pull a little at a time out.

One of these markets did a good business, it was in the day of hanging beef, you throw your pieces to be boned out in a grocery buggy till later in the day. we didn't get to push them in till they were full, had a lot of bleeding off it and a LOT of blood on the floor. we had saw dust on the floors in those days, we just shovel out all the bloody stuff every evening

In the last market I had I had a fan go out on my cutting room blowers, I had been trying to get it fix for a few weeks, that market was in the TDZ zone, state lady came in one day and ask me why it wasn't colder, I told her I been trying to get it fix but they wasn't in a hurry to do it.

I ask her to write it up so I could use that for a excuse to get it fix, me and her got along good together, she told me she would do better than that,  She went and told the store manager that she would be there for about another hour, if it wasn't fixed she was going write it up and come back on her way back in and if it wasn't fixed she would put the yellow tape across the meat counter till it was.

Store manager called the warehouse and they told her to get a local up there right away to get it fixed, they had it replaced before she left lol

They set our cutting rooms @abour 51f or so. the only want to have the meat sit for no more than 15 mins on the line.

 

Leon,

Your anecdote is a great example of an experienced professional GETTING THINGS DONE! That's often how it works in the real world. I did the same.

apcowboy wrote:

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In the last market I had I had a fan go out on my cutting room blowers, I had been trying to get it fix for a few weeks, that market was in the TDZ zone, state lady came in one day and ask me why it wasn't colder, I told her I been trying to get it fix but they wasn't in a hurry to do it.

I ask her to write it up so I could use that for a excuse to get it fix, me and her got along good together, she told me she would do better than that,  She went and told the store manager that she would be there for about another hour, if it wasn't fixed she was going write it up and come back on her way back in and if it wasn't fixed she would put the yellow tape across the meat counter till it was.

Store manager called the warehouse and they told her to get a local up there right away to get it fixed, they had it replaced before she left lol

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It's not a problem if you can keep the meat below 40 degrees. It's not a problem if you only cut one thing at a time and then quickly put it into a refrigerated case or cooler. With our current building design, it's an "old-fashioned" full-service meat counter. It would be impossible to refrigerate the whole room because the customers shop in the same room. But nothing is allowed to get above 40 degrees.

So WHAT is a TDZ zone?  Never heard that term in all my career!

Jim,

the last market I worked in was very small. We had a little 6x10 cooler than was shared by meat, deli and kitchen. My cutting area was just as small and was basically the same area the deli would operate in as well. The Kitchen was only separated from me by a wall. It was all room temperature. I had never experienced that and when I started there I had my doubts it was even legal. I remember playing with the idea of some how moving the block into the tiny cooler and doing all my cutting in there. I just had to get used to cutting one thing and a time. Wrapping it and taking it out to the case then getting the next primal out of the cooler and repeating. I also carried all trim from each primal by hand back to the cooler and dropped it in the luggers. The state inspectors never said anything. So I guess its legal or at least overlooked when it comes to small markets that couldn't afford to make that kind of upgrade if they wanted to. I did n ot like it and in the summer the store's A/C was not keeping the area very cool and meat was turning much faster than I would like. The meat dept there was lose/lose I found out that 6 months after I left the owner scraped the meat dept, deli and kitchen and put a subway in. I would say smart move. When Leon visited me there in 2012 he took some pictures. I wonder if he still has them somewhere.

My table is in the deli of a small family owned market. I only cut one thing at a time and try to work quickly. When I have to cut something time consuming like three Chuck rolls for ground meat I take it into the walk in and put it in the bins handfuls at a time to keep it above 40 degrees. Not super efficient but gotta do what I gotta do, I am a one woman operation.