'WORK TO DO': Schools could learn lessons on food safety

A day spent at the Keystone Foods plant here, one of five in the United States that makes
hamburger patties for McDonald's, is a glimpse into the world of extreme food safety.

McDonald's (MCD) is considered one of the best, if not the best, company in the United States
when it comes to food safety. "They're the top of the top," says Caroline Smith DeWaal, food-
safety director of the non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C.

No one enters the work floor without stopping at the automatic hand washers that work on the
same principle as a car wash. Inside, the plant is a vast plain of chilly concrete and shining
stainless steel, gleaming from the efforts of the 32-person cleaning crew that works from 2 to 6
a.m.

The big chunks of beef that will become hamburger arrive in steel-reinforced boxes called
combo bins, each as big as a hot tub. The trucks they come in from the packing plant are sealed
with a numbered steel bolt that can be opened only with bolt cutters. Only a Keystone employee
is allowed to open them.

"If a driver says, 'I'll help,' and cuts the bolt,' we send it back," says Andrew Kornick, a Keystone
general manager.

The meat can't even be backed up to the receiving dock without a "certificate of analysis" stating
it's been tested and found negative for E. coli O157:H7, a particularly dangerous contaminant. If
it passes, it is then sampled and tested for salmonella, total aerobic and coliform bacteria.

Then it makes its way through machines that grind it, shape it into patties and freeze it. Once it's
in patty form, samples are taken every 15 minutes on the line and are retested for E. coli
O157:H7.

If a sample turns up positive, the two hours' worth of patties in that batch are destroyed by being
buried in a landfill. In addition, two hours' worth of patties produced on either side of that batch
— an additional four hours' worth of product — are sold to an outside company that fully cooks
them before selling them elsewhere, killing any possible E. coli O157:H7.

"Basically, six hours is deleted from our system, even though we don't know that those two hours
on either side are even positive," says McDonald's spokeswoman Danya Proud.

In the 50 minutes between the moment the first chunks of beef are wheeled onto the plant floor
to when the patties are boxed for shipment to restaurants, the meat goes through at least two
metal detectors — there are 15 at this plant. The plant's quality-assurance team also takes
multiple samples.

Some are microbiological, and some are simply to ensure that each patty is exactly formed to
McDonald's specifications. A micrometer is used to measure the exact thickness of the patties.
McDonald's fusses over the correct thickness and weight, "so we can ensure that the product
cooks to the correct temperature," says process control manager John Anderko.

Even the little divots in the patties have to be exact. They are there to create channels for the heat
from the griddle to rise through the meat, allowing the patties to cook more quickly and
consistently, he says.

At the restaurants, the same level of fastidiousness is enforced. At a McDonald's on Airport

Highway in Holland, Ohio, about 34 miles from the Keystone plant, shift manager Cameron
Suter starts the lunch shift by calibrating his thermometer in a cup filled half with ice, half with
water.

Suter then deep fries or grills a set of every meat product that will be sold during that shift,
beginning with Chicken McNuggets, chicken strips and chicken patties, then moving on to the
various burgers.

The operation centers on a specially designed "clam shell" grill that closes over hamburgers,
from the bottom and the top, to cook both sides at once. It is attached to a timer, so even if a new
cook tried, he or she couldn't undercook the meat. All hamburgers are cooked to an internal
temperature of 155 degrees, which has been scientifically validated to kill bacteria.

When the timer goes off and the grills open up, Suter inserts his instant-read thermometer into
each patty and calls out the temperatures to his assistant, who records them in the restaurant's
food-safety booklet.

Everything that happens in the restaurant is choreographed at the corporate level. Even hand
washing is mandatory every 60 minutes and whenever a worker moves from one task to another.

At the Airport Highway restaurant, hand washing comes at the top of the hour. At 30 minutes
after the hour, all workers pause to use hand sanitizer.

"There's an alarm that goes off, and the whole crew washes their hands, beginning with the
managers," says Todd Bacon, a McDonald's senior director of quality systems.
 Reaction Paper
In
Food Safety and Sanitation

Sumitted by:

Anna Therese Largoza

BSHRM-1F

Sumitted to:

Mrs. Lopinac