On July 7, the Riverside County Department of Environmental Health was notified of possible violations of the California Retail Food Code at Wolfee Donuts, located on Canyon Hills Road in Lake Elsinore. Security camera footage from July 4 reveals multiple trays of uncovered donuts sitting on top of a display case. Later, customers, including 22-year-old singer and actress, Ariana Grande, are seen licking the donuts.
After inspection of the establishment on July 8, the shop suffered from a 14-point deduction in their score, reducing their “A” grade to a “B.” The primary violations include a lack of separation and protection for food from contamination and adulterated, spoiled, or contaminated food. However, after the follow-up inspection on July 15, the score for Wolfee Donuts improved from an 84 to a 96.
While it is clear that Wolfee Donuts violated food safety codes by leaving donuts where consumers, such as Grande, could cause contamination, this incident serves as a reminder for bakeries to not store product in easy reach of consumers.
Dottie Merki, REHS, program chief/PIO at the Riverside County Department of Environmental Health, emphasizes the importance for bakeries and other food establishments to learn proper safety protocols on how to avoid consumer contamination on their products.
“Our goal is to protect the public from illness caused by eating food from a retail food facility. This is partially accomplished by educating food facility operators of food safety practices and the laws pertaining to food safety as outlined in the California Health and Safety Code,” she says.
“Keeping food protected from any kind of contamination is key to providing safe food for consumers to eat,” Merki continues.
Consumer contamination can be avoided primarily by using proper food displays. An excerpt from the California Retail Food Code states:
Food on display shall be protected from contamination by the use of packaging, counter, service line, or sneeze guards that intercept a direct line between the consumer’s mouth and the food being displayed, containers with tight-fitting securely attached lids, display cases, mechanical dispensers, or other effective means.
The Code continues to explain that the food is to be “displayed in clean, sanitary, and covered, or otherwise protected, containers.”
Pantano is an editorial intern for Wiley’s U.S. B2B editorial division.
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