Sous vide and the health department

My local health department is having fits about low temp extending cooking times over 6 hours. Does anybody have any links that support the saftey of cooking sous vide for extended time in the danger zone. I prefer most of my tough cuts cooked at 55c for 24 to 48 hours. I'm comfortable writing a HACCP plan but they "aren't sure thats enough". Any help would be much appreciated. I'm located on Cape Cod in Massachusetts if that helps with any information. Thanks

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brian_martin2001

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC91810/

http://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/_Documents/science/sous_vide_food_safey_precautions.pdf

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956713503002032

https://www.campdenbri.co.uk/publications/pubDetails.php?pubsID=4653

http://www.formatex.org/microbio/pdf/Pages511-517.pdf

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiG7PvNrNXJAhWEax4KHWCiAbYQFgg1MAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cieh.org%2FWorkArea%2FDownloadAsset.aspx%3Fid%3D43938&usg=AFQjCNHPIEncvWCu2ZBDRuC_GTe69W4plA&sig2=Eo9twdS0o8u2RKHN2HnJNw

If you have access to it, Nathan myhrvold's modernist cuisine also has a pretty good microbial section and he does have the sources listed as well.

Good luck!

ttpoker

Get used to writing HACCP plans, and not having the freedom to change the menu without writing and submitting the plan in advance. If your local department still doesn't get it, point to Las Vegas which has some of the toughest health regulations in the USA - they allow Sous Vide but the HACCP plan must be submitted in advance. At the bigger restaurants there are full time compliance staff whose job is to submit plans to the SNVHD - a real pain, but it must be done.

http://southernnevadahealthdistrict.org/download/eh/haccp-guidelines.pdf

brian_martin2001

Friday, December 18th, the FDA did a surprise inspection of my production facility. After everything was said and done, I asked the inspector regarding your predicament. He said HACCP was the way to go. It's going to be very long, and is going to be all inclusive: covering every little possible thing that could possibly go wrong. By long: for example: a fast food restaurant in my area for their crispy chicken sandwich (just the bun, lettuce, tomato, breaded chicken cutlet, and pickle) is 40 pages long, for that sandwich alone. Your restaurant may consider hiring an outside firm to write it, the HACCP firms that exist are very good at what they do, so they should be able to cover everything you need. If you are going to go in-house, make sure at least 2 employees go through the training seminars and are HACCP certified. Either way, good luck.