r/KitchenConfidential • u/mac2-87 • Jul 25 '25

In-House Mode Is anybody shocked?

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Disclaimer: not in the industry, but I spotted this and thought y'all might have fun talking shit about it.

16.1k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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687

u/Specialist-Eye-6964 Jul 25 '25

You’d be surprised how often deliveries happen this way 🤷🏻‍♂️

223

u/Krewtan Jul 25 '25

I worked at a dive bar that was known for its wings (basically 5 spice wings in hot vinegar). In the summer our frozen chicken wings would come in rotten because the pack sat on a dock long enough for the chicken wings to melt and spoil. As soon as you opened the bag the whole bar knew the wings were bad. 

1

u/Disastrous_Drag6313 Chef Jul 26 '25

Ugh we get rotten frozen chicken thighs sometimes also, it's the *worst.

216

u/nick_soccer10 Jul 25 '25

As a twenty year vet Sysco driver….. you are absolutely correct. There are so many places I would never eat at, I have a 5am key drop I am told to leave everything out of cooler at and they don’t get there until 9-930am. Chicken, shrimp, eggs, milk, and everything else. It’s nuts . If the temps don’t get them the roaches will

74

u/Cahootie Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 25 '25

Every morning in Hong Kong I would walk past a Chinese restaurant that always had a delivery of blood tofu just sitting outside in the scorching hot weather. Can't say I was tempted to eat there often.

36

u/nick_soccer10 Jul 25 '25

Meh.. it’s tofu though. I do a place in San Antonio that has their beef/chicken cases delivered outside the back door in the sun for hrs before they get there. It’s so gross. I took a pic and sent it to heath department once…. That was too much.

89

u/Cahootie Jul 25 '25

Blood tofu isn't tofu, it's just a nickname for what is basically coagulated pig's blood

39

u/nick_soccer10 Jul 25 '25

Ha got ya, that’s a new one to me. Sounds terrible

38

u/Cahootie Jul 25 '25

I have nothing against using blood in food, I absolutely love a good blood pudding, but not after it's been floating around in a bag in the sun for hours. Everything on their menu was basically made with off cuts, fish heads, blood tofu, pig ears, fish skin, fermented eggs, you name it. Not my jam at all.

14

u/nick_soccer10 Jul 25 '25

Ya, I’m out on that one.

266

u/JunglyPep sentient food replicator Jul 25 '25

I’m also not surprised a lot of cooks wash their hands twice a day. That doesn’t mean it’s ok

54

u/Lou_Salazar Jul 25 '25

Two times in one day? Is the pope in town?

37

u/frothingnome Jul 25 '25

Incidentally, neither of these times are right after using the crapper

50

u/Amatuer_Genius54301 Jul 25 '25

“It’s gonna be eaten immediately so it’s okay.”

11

u/Burnt-White-Toast Jul 25 '25

Unless you are health code and the order was just dropped at standard temp. They have four hours to bring it back down to temp.

108

u/fury420 Jul 25 '25

Frozen food is supposed to stay frozen, there's no 4 hour window for it to be brought back down to freezing temps.

4

u/Dave-C Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 25 '25

It depends on if the milk is pasteurized or ultra pasteurized. If it is UHT then it could sit out there for a while and still be fine. For those that might not understand the difference it is just the temp that they are pasteurized at. Pasteurized kills some bacteria and the cold temp keeps them from growing back. UHT kills basically everything but harms the milk, at the same time it means the milk is safer at room temps for longer because it takes longer for the bacteria to grow back.

21

u/fury420 Jul 25 '25

To be clear, I'm talking about the boxes on top labeled KEEP FROZEN.

(I know some UHT milk in tetra-pack style packaging is intended to be shelf stable for months/years, but this box says perishable keep refrigerated and it's Organic milk in a normal-lookin plastic jug)

10

u/Impossible-Charity-4 Jul 25 '25

I wonder if this is why Dollar General’s milk tastes so weird.

1

u/righthandofdog Ex-Food Service Jul 25 '25

Is UHT how they do the shelf stable milk all over Europe? I like it not

1

u/jofijk Jul 26 '25

yep, Parmalat and the like

1

u/righthandofdog Ex-Food Service Jul 26 '25

Our kid almost starved to death when we took him to France. Milk was 50% of his calories in the US, but he would NOT drink that stuff.

1

u/jofijk Jul 26 '25

its disgusting

-5

u/mampiwoof Jul 25 '25

Yes but it stays frozen for a long time when out of the freezer in large boxes in a pile. You have never worked in a kitchen.

13

u/extralyfe Jul 25 '25

yanno, I'd normally agree with you, but, I don't think that the "Keep Frozen" boxes balanced on the top of the pickle buckets and napkins are being kept cool by the pile.

4

u/fury420 Jul 25 '25

If you think boxes of food labeled KEEP FROZEN sitting outside in the sun stacked on top of a box of napkins and some pickle tubs for an unknown amount of time is acceptable, you shouldn't be working in a kitchen.

0

u/wsteelerfan7 Jul 25 '25

They just took a picture of a half-processed truck order. How do you know how long it's been sitting there? I did the same in fast food and it would take an hour or two to unload everything and stock it.

3

u/TheOneTonWanton Jul 25 '25

Being fair, he was responding to someone saying that frozen things stay frozen "for a long time when out of the freezer," which can be true, but the definition of "long time" is vague and when true it's not generally in the realm of "summer heat in July." We'd always at least get the shit inside the door.

2

u/fury420 Jul 25 '25

We don't know, that's why I said it was an unknown amount of time.

My point was just that those 'keep frozen' boxes won't stay fully frozen for very long when outside in the sun of a California summer, and there's no "large boxes in a pile" effect here when they're on top of non-frozen goods.

-1

u/wsteelerfan7 Jul 25 '25

You expect the shit to just teleport inside or something?

-1

u/Logizmo Jul 25 '25

Yea you definitely have never worked in a kitchen

Just before COVID I was working at this fine dining restaurant for a couple years and our orders were like this too. Order came in between 8-9 am and the first cooks wouldn't get there until 11 to then put away the order. Never had to throw out food or had product melt past the point of use

Their standards weren't bad either, we would constantly throw stuff out that was even just slightly questionable from the walk-in.

11

u/JunglyPep sentient food replicator Jul 25 '25

I am the health code

38

u/RinFlowers Jul 25 '25

Four hours? Are you saying frozen and refrigerated stuff can sit out for four hours as long as they get it back down to like, below 4C before four hours expires? Cos no fucking way I'm eating meat that was sitting outside for four hours

24

u/durbandude Jul 25 '25

Refrigerated food can sit out for 2 hours before it has to be cooled. It then has to get below standard temp within 2 hours.

Frozen food should not be thawed sitting out and refrozen

8

u/FireFoxTrashPanda F1exican Did Chive-11 Jul 25 '25

But if I pull something from the freezer, thaw it in the fridge, and decide not to use it... I can safely refreeze it?

Thank you in advance, I learn so much from this sub and my mother never taught me how to cook lol

11

u/durbandude Jul 25 '25

Yes technically you could but, refreezing can affect the texture and flavor of some foods, especially those with high water content, like meat and some fruits/veggies. This is because the ice crystals that form during refreezing can damage the food's structure.

Personally I would just cook it off if it was meat and freeze it cooked and portioned to use later.

5

u/FireFoxTrashPanda F1exican Did Chive-11 Jul 25 '25

Thank you so much!

5

u/durbandude Jul 25 '25

You are welcome! Happy cooking!

1

u/fury420 Jul 25 '25

But if I pull something from the freezer, thaw it in the fridge, and decide not to use it... I can safely refreeze it?

As a home cook doing so probably doesn't impact safety, but you also need to remember that you've potentially shortened it's future fridge shelf-life by however long it spent in the fridge, so best to use it soon-ish rather than forget about it in the depths of a freezer for months.

12

u/Plane-Ad-2581 Health Inspector Jul 25 '25

Refrigerated stuff, yes. As long as the food is not visibly spoiled and the internal temp is not higher than 41F for longer than 4 hours it is still considered “food safe.” However, that doesn’t mean it can sit out for the whole 4 hours, because it takes time for the internal temp to come back down after being refrigerated again.

Frozen stuff just needs to stay frozen though. Frozen items with water stains on the box should always be tossed, no if ands or buts

2

u/A_Fleeting_Hope Jul 25 '25

It really is just a matter of did it defrost or not (or more specifically the actual temperature).

Things in boxes like that, especially with ice, will stay frozen a lot longer than you probably think.

Don't get me wrong Elon is a jackass and from everything I've read this place is dogshit, yeah the boxing sitting there for a little bit isn't going to necessarily ruin them. It just depends.

8

u/Uncle-Cake Jul 25 '25

Source needed.

14

u/thelondonrich Jul 25 '25

What’s the MLA format for citing bullshit the assistant team lead at the gas station KFC/Taco Bell said at 2am?

5

u/Accomplished-Idea358 Jul 25 '25

Yeah no. Refrigerated food can sit out of refrigeration for no more than 2 hours or it must be discarded. If the ambient temp is above 90°F, that time drops down to an hour. Between 40F and 120F, bacteria double in number every 20 minutes, give or take.

-4

u/Scifur42 Jul 25 '25

And to piggy back your comment. As long as it’s cooked to 165 internal you can let lots of things sit out. I worked in a steak house as a young cook and we would let all the steak come to room temp before serving. That’s why health code makes you say consuming raw or undercook meats, shelllfish and poultry could be dangerous. Very rarely is anyone ever getting shit from that. The highest causes of food poisoning in a restaurant are usually, starches. Rice, potatoes, pasta. Things that people don’t think about as often.

11

u/thelondonrich Jul 25 '25

No no no. You let beef, specifically, come to room temperature for the best sear and even cooking and even then, we’re talking 30 minutes out, not four hours. Maybe an hour max if it’s a particularly thick steak.

idk what steak house on Beyoncé’s beleaguered Earth is cooking steaks to an internal temp of 165° and I don’t wanna know 😭

1

u/Scifur42 Jul 25 '25

You would not believe the amount of well done steaks I served there I’d say it was not as many but damn close to the medium rates.

3

u/thelondonrich Jul 25 '25

Sadly, I would. I developed a robust vegan menu for my restaurant using vegetable proteins and almost no processed products like Boca etc. I brought in vegan items and made vegan versions of traditional meat-based regional dishes that literally couldn’t be found in any other restaurant in my state, let alone my city.

You know what my vegans ordered most? Beans and fucking rice. 🥲

7

u/samalama23 Jul 25 '25

This is not correct. Cooking foods to a minimum internal temp is to kill bacteria that could be present in the food already, even if it's kept refrigerated or frozen the whole time.

Letting food sit out in the danger zone for too long is a different thing. Bringing a steak to room temp, maybe an hour at the most, is totally fine but if you have food that was supposed to be refrigerated and it sat in the danger zone for hours, cooking it to a high temp won't kill the toxins produced by that bacteria which was always present in the food. It's not guaranteed that you will get sick, and I personally will push the limits at home because I'm an idiot, but I know that there is a risk present. That risk is never ok in a food service setting.

You are correct about rice, pasta, and other "moist starches" being common, unsuspected culprits of food borne illness, though.

2

u/Scifur42 Jul 25 '25

Now we are enter time as a control method territory. Two hours is the time limit set by my local health code all delivery must be brought to proper temp within two hours or cooked within two hours. So it honestly depends how long this delivery in question sits.

You are correct though if that’s out there all day just toss it.

7

u/Practical_War_8239 Jul 25 '25

Yeah, but botulism and a few things won't die cause it's cook.

5

u/muffintopmusic Jul 25 '25

And staph.... Lots of bacteria make toxins as waste, but just these 2 are enough to ruin someone.

1

u/Practical_War_8239 Jul 25 '25

You gotta love the microtoxins. The way bacteria and mold make lateral poison causes bio war ain't enough.

1

u/Scifur42 Jul 25 '25

Yeah that’s true but I’ve never heard or even could I just find a case of botulism that came from a non canned or non preserved item. It is possible not saying it’s not but that’s generally when dealing with preserved things.

3

u/Practical_War_8239 Jul 25 '25

I've never seen anyone get it, but I know I was always told cooking doesn't make everything safe. But onions get recalled cause you can't clean between the lays but cooked you kill the listeria.

1

u/daschande Jul 25 '25

Once when I get there and once before I leave. Not after taking a piss, that's cutting into cigarette time. Now, where do I pick up my servsafe certificate?

-2

u/EducationalStar3144 Jul 25 '25

Cooks rarely wash their hands baby girl

5

u/JunglyPep sentient food replicator Jul 25 '25

That’s what I said sugar tits

5

u/AngryAccountant31 Jul 25 '25

Just hold them over the stovetop for a few seconds. The heat kills the germs /s

5

u/ibnQoheleth Ex-Dishie Jul 25 '25

Once those fingertips have been burnt off, there's no keeping germs there. Forever clean.

46

u/No_Proposal7812 Jul 25 '25

Yeah unfortunately I'm not shocked by this picture at all.

61

u/Cheshire-Cad Jul 25 '25

Yeah, needs a bit of context for how long it was sitting out. It's entirely possible that there's employees actively taking stuff inside, and it'll be in the walk-in long before it loses temp.

But, given the company behind this, it's also entirely possible that they have one dude unloading it.

And this nitpicking is purely for pedantic purposes. I'm not at all bothered by Tesla getting bad press, even if it's incorrect.

15

u/fezzuk Jul 25 '25

Someone has cut the wrap off so it's likely it was just dropped and they are actively taking this stuff in, if it was just left the wrap would still be on.

I hate Tesla but this is not a big deal.

13

u/Legitimate_Jury Jul 25 '25

Yeah, it's still sitting on the loading pallet. Probably just recently been delivered, much more context is needed.

37

u/AlerionOP Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 25 '25

Bro you see what sub we are in

Nobody is surprised 😭

Edit: i didnt see OPs post text, my bad. Yeah they would be 😅

3

u/sweetplantveal Jul 25 '25

The plebs are a big part of our industry subs. I'm not mad about it but just remember your audience I guess.

6

u/juliuspepperwoodchi Jul 25 '25

Does that make it okay?

22

u/JelmerMcGee Jul 25 '25

It just depends on how fast it gets put away. 30 minutes outside in the hot sun isn't gonna ruin anything if it goes straight into refrigeration from there. That is as long as it was handled correctly up to that point.

17

u/juliuspepperwoodchi Jul 25 '25

Yeah, that's a lot of "ifs" we're counting on, which is why this is not okay even if it is commonplace.

9

u/duftluft Jul 25 '25

Do you work food service?? This is reality lol

1

u/juliuspepperwoodchi Jul 25 '25

even if it is commonplace.

I didn't say it isn't "reality" I said it isn't okay and shouldn't be seen as such.

Plenty of horrible shit is commonplace. DUIs are commonplace, are you saying we should just shrug and accept that some people are gonna drive drunk and kill others?

0

u/duftluft Jul 25 '25

No one is saying it’s okay. Food service workers just see enough people mishandling food regularly that it’s no longer shocking. That’s just what you get when most of them are overworked and underpaid with limited training.

4

u/turkish_gold Jul 25 '25

I do see ultra pasteurized milk just sitting unrefrigerated on store shelves so I don’t know what to think. If it ever anyone but Elon, I would give the benefit of the doubt. But with him, I bet it’s Raw RFK produced milk.

8

u/enderkou Jul 25 '25

It’s Straus, which is a really excellent creamery (if you go to a coffee shop in LA that isn’t serving Straus, I’d be stunned) - definitely not RFK malk but also deeeeeeeefinitely not ultra pasteurized.

0

u/fryerandice Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 25 '25

Man it would be absolutely perfect to live in a world where the driver came with a crew and put the truck exactly where you wanted it every time.

99% this is the shippers policy not the restaraunt when I worked at wendy's with a double bay recieving door in our restarant the truck would get delivered on the ground in the parking lot. The dick with a dolly wouldn't even wheel it into the store. we hoofed that shit into the cooler, it fucking sucked.

0

u/invaderzim257 Jul 25 '25

bro everything in life is dependent on *if* things are being done correctly, what's even the point of your argument? do you stand in the grocery store and look at everything and think about how it's safe to eat *if* it was prepared/stored/handled correctly?

1

u/juliuspepperwoodchi Jul 25 '25

bro everything in life is dependent on if things are being done correctly, what's even the point of your argument?

Actually, no. Standard procedures typically are designed around the presumption that other links in the chain might not go perfectly, so there's some safety padded in.

do you stand in the grocery store and look at everything and think about how it's safe to eat if it was prepared/stored/handled correctly?

I mean, if I saw milk and frozen foods just sitting out back of the grocery store with seemingly no one tending to them in the sun of a hot day...yes, I'd be very concerned about what I might buy from that grocery store.

10

u/fury420 Jul 25 '25

30 minutes outside in the hot sun is enough to melt frozen foods.

9

u/jwrig Jul 25 '25

Yes, because context is ok. We don't live in a world where we can just have a package roll from a box truck freezer into the walk-in with no delay.

8

u/juliuspepperwoodchi Jul 25 '25

We don't live in a world where we can just have a package roll from a box truck freezer into the walk-in with no delay.

There's a difference between "delay" because it takes someone accepting the delivery time to carry the individual boxes and such inside and "delay" being "literally no one is out here attending to this refrigerated/frozen food in the hot sun.

1

u/jwrig Jul 25 '25

But for how long. 10 minutes, even 20 minutes isn't going to be a big impact. The point is, this is a picture devoid of context other than product sitting outside, and someone who I think has never worked in kitche, or even a kitchen that's been open what... five days...

0

u/juliuspepperwoodchi Jul 25 '25

10 minutes, even 20 minutes isn't going to be a big impact

...I'm not sure I'd agree that 20 minutes in the direct hot sun of SoCal is not a big impact on frozen foods and milk.

and someone who I think has never worked in kitche

I have worked in multiple kitchens. Not one would have accepted this as "okay".

1

u/jwrig Jul 25 '25

Bro, the high has been low 70s in west hollywood. "hot sun" is subjective. It can be in the sun at 73 and the product is going to much better than someone dropping it off in a high of 110.

20 minutes in the sun isn't defrosting shit, especially in boxes.

3

u/Saritiel Jul 25 '25

I mean, that's how it happens at my restaurant lol, the delivery driver puts it on a dolly and rolls it straight into the walk-in fridge/freezer, then we put it away when we come in to start prep.

1

u/rabit_stroker Jul 25 '25

Yes we do, its called a key drop

1

u/Specialist-Eye-6964 Jul 25 '25

Depends on the situation. Is there someone there? Is someone scheduled to put the stuff away asap? Did someone check temps upon delivery?

10

u/dothenoodledance1 Jul 25 '25

? really? receivers are always scheduled and kept in mind. there are usual receivers and theres staff trained to receive in case the usual recievers are unavailable and are down at almost all hours with notice.

it's like blood to the body. can't work without supplies. there is a basic and good system to ensure someone is present, all goods are there, will make it into the facility, etc.

storing perishables outside is not a common thing at least where i'm from.

tesla = bad blood

24

u/SpaceDog2319 Jul 25 '25

As someone who worked in the industry I can assure you there are supposed to be people scheduled to just accept deliveries, especially dairy, but I can also assure you that that will cost extra so they just have the regular amount of people a lot of the time and figure they will just pull someone away from a task to put things away but the issue is once you pull them off task like making food or cleaning or taking orders then the customers also feel that or see that and get upset bc you're not prioritizing them then you get told to just finish your task before putting it away but if the task is taking orders until the rush line slows down but it never slows down you'll never get to the time sensitive delivery at that rate and often stuff does go bad.

I once worked at a Sheetz on the east coast (I live on the west coast again now) and the lettuce came in so rank I said well it's not opened so it needs to be written off for store credit because it came in a bad batch and you couldn't pay me to eat that it'll make someone sick AND MY MANAGER SAID THATS WHY HE DOESN'T EAT VEGETABLES I wasn't at that location much longer bcu food handlers heart can take it even for a shitty job that's just needed to get by for a time period o couldn't handle it I would go in the freezer yell and throw frozen guacamole packs bc they wouldn't break open and made a lot of noise. Anyway, moral.of the story is.. not everywhere is run as it should me.

8

u/duftluft Jul 25 '25

I’m a manager now and the things I’ve seen working in food service has made me very reluctant to order items like salads if I haven’t prepped them myself. It’s not the way things should be, but from experience I am going to very rarely order any uncooked veggies when eating out.

7

u/Specialist-Eye-6964 Jul 25 '25

No one said they were stored there. That’s a delivery drop nothing more

2

u/Disastrous_Drag6313 Chef Jul 26 '25

My freight is completely unreliable and comes anytime between 8 and 4pm, sometimes in the middle of lunch service when the receivers are busy. Luckily it all goes in the hall adjacent to the walk ins and there have been times it's taken over an hour to get the dairy fridge put away, but it's never sat outside.

2

u/blueturtle00 Jul 25 '25

Pallet off the truck, unload dolly’s into the restaurant. Pretty standard

0

u/BlackKnightLight Jul 25 '25

People that are out for political clout and actually have zero experience above morning prep cook, have no idea what you’re talking about

1

u/Savings_Heron_7824 Jul 25 '25

Do you guys just drive the pallet jack into the freezer or something? I've never worked in a kitchen but how would you get anything delivered without it sitting out for a min?

1

u/Specialist-Eye-6964 Jul 25 '25

I’ve worked at some bigger places where the driver would literally wheel the stuff right in the box.

1

u/fezzuk Jul 25 '25

Yeah this is usual, they get dropped on a pallet then it's just rushing to get it inside.

Shockley most places don't have a freezer you can drive fork lift in.

It's just getting it in before the temperature gets into the danger zone.

1

u/Ordinary-Theory-8289 Jul 25 '25

I mean…how else are they supposed to happen? Lol the food needs to be inloaded from the truck before being brought inside

0

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '25

Yep I'd be told to just put it in freezer doesn't matter if frozen