Not a pretty sight? Yes we agree. But that is why we want to bring it to your attention. What is it? You ask? Well the first picture is (waste product, blood and impurities) what has been skimmed off the top of simmering poultry offal, the second image is roughly 6 kg of chicken livers on simmer and the third image is chicken livers that have been simmered ready for dehydration. Now you are probably still wondering why Im showing you these pictures right? At Oscar-Woo we like to support other small business, even where they may be in the same business as us.... But sometimes we hear stories that make us just want to cringe. While one of the first reasons to boil and simmer your poultry offal products prior to dehydration is to clean them up and remove the blood and impurities, the second and more important reason is.for food safety and food hygiene purposes. I was talking to a small business owner some months back who incorporates treat sales into their grooming business. When discussing processes with them they were dumbfounded as to why I engage a twofold cooking process when creating poultry offal jerky treats. While the picture below is just one example, the main reason we do this is to ensure that bacterias are killed off and to quickly raise the temperature of the offal so that it does not sit between 5 degrees and 60 degrees for any extended period of time. By boiling your offal products (water boils at 100 degree) and cooking them through- you able to destroy most harmful bacteria and by bringing your offal above the danger zone temp it will generally stabilize (whilst dehydrating at approximately 60-65 degrees) which is the temp that most dehydrators that dont have a thermostat sit. Now I certainly dont expect most everyday people to know these principles but someone who purports to make and sell offal products for pet consumption holds a higher level of responsibility and liability as far as I am concerned. While I was happy to provide instruction to this individual I have to admit i was a little concerned and even a little angry. Im certainly not saying that everyone engaged in pet food production needs to be a vet or a chef but food safety, food hygiene and food handling skills are as important in pet food production as they are in a commercial kitchen. Oscar-Woo Foods treats and dinners are cooked and stored with food hygiene and food handling as one of our top priorities. In order for us to attain our product liability insurance we are required to show proof of our food hygiene for food handlers certification. Thanks for listening to our little Public Service Announcement. In such a highly unregulated food service industry it simply pays to arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible!
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 04:06:32 +0000
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