Food Service
Cook/Chill Centralized Food Service in Corrections
By Louise E. Mathews, Chief of Food Services, San Diego County, California, Sheriffs Department capacity of 2,345. In 1989, these facilities were holding up to 4,500 inmates-and the numbers were climbing-giving San Diego the dubious distinction of being the most overcrowded system in the country. To determine more effective ways of handling the increasing number of inmates, the county commissioned two external feasibility studies (1985 and 1989), as well as an internal study. With respect to food service, the findings of all the studies supported the creation of a centralized cook/chill system for the county’s facilities. There are two basic methods of cook/chill: cryo-vat (tumble chilling), and blast chilling. Cryo-vat processing. In cryo-vat (tumble chill) processing, liquid or viscous products such as sauces, soups, stews, cereals, and salad dressings are prepared in specially equipped kettles and then pumped through a three-inch hose into polyethylene bags (usually twogallon bags). The bags are vacuumsealed and transferred to the chilling unit, either manually or by conveyor belt. The chiller is a perforated drum that rotates in a tank of circulating ice water. The bags of food are tumbled in the ice bath until their temperature is below 38 degrees. The cryo-vat process gives the product a shelf life of thirty to forty days. Blast-chilling. Other foods, such as baked chicken, meat loaf, lasagna, and hamburgers, are cooked and then placed on carts in two-inchdeep pans and rolled into a “blast” chilling unit, which resembles a roll-in refrigerator box. The unit has the ability to rapidly circulate cold air around the pans until the food temperature has dropped below 38 degrees. Blast-chilling gives the product a shelf life of four to five days.
read, gruel, and water used to be the staples of correctional food service, but today a great variety of high-quality food is available, thanks to such technology as
By Louise E. Mathews, Chief of Food Services, San Diego County, California, Sheriffs Department capacity of 2,345. In 1989, these facilities were holding up to 4,500 inmates-and the numbers were climbing-giving San Diego the dubious distinction of being the most overcrowded system in the country. To determine more effective ways of handling the increasing number of inmates, the county commissioned two external feasibility studies (1985 and 1989), as well as an internal study. With respect to food service, the findings of all the studies supported the creation of a centralized cook/chill system for the county’s facilities. There are two basic methods of cook/chill: cryo-vat (tumble chilling), and blast chilling. Cryo-vat processing. In cryo-vat (tumble chill) processing, liquid or viscous products such as sauces, soups, stews, cereals, and salad dressings are prepared in specially equipped kettles and then pumped through a three-inch hose into polyethylene bags (usually twogallon bags). The bags are vacuumsealed and transferred to the chilling unit, either manually or by conveyor belt. The chiller is a perforated drum that rotates in a tank of circulating ice water. The bags of food are tumbled in the ice bath until their temperature is below 38 degrees. The cryo-vat process gives the product a shelf life of thirty to forty days. Blast-chilling. Other foods, such as baked chicken, meat loaf, lasagna, and hamburgers, are cooked and then placed on carts in two-inchdeep pans and rolled into a “blast” chilling unit, which resembles a roll-in refrigerator box. The unit has the ability to rapidly circulate cold air around the pans until the food temperature has dropped below 38 degrees. Blast-chilling gives the product a shelf life of four to five days.
read, gruel, and water used to be the staples of correctional food service, but today a great variety of high-quality food is available, thanks to such technology as