State Inspection (CDPH)

This past November, the long-awaited day of State inspection had arrived. Ever since I had submitted my PFR (Processed Food Registration) application, it was a waiting game. If you remember my last post, I had sent in the application and check for my PFR in August. I understand that it takes approximately six to eight weeks to hear back. It took a little bit longer for me, and that was after reaching out via emails and phone calls. After months of planning and preparing to start Baked by A.K., I was relieved and excited that I have gotten to this next step, one step closer to being open for business. But I was also nervous AF! It was the not knowing part that was freaking me out with anxiety.

From what I heard from other foodpreneurs that had undergone and survived through this step, they told me that it was more like a talking through process, being asked questions of your procedures and such. They said the entire procedure took an hour or two. Ha! Keep reading to find out just how long I was there for. Also, none of my fellow foodpreneurs said they had to demonstrate the making of the foods. So I didn’t expect to go through that either. But right before the day of, my inspector informed me that they needed to see from beginning to end how the products are made. So this had me swimming deeper in anxiety, as I don’t perform well when under pressure and when I feel myself being scrutinized.

I made a trip down to Restaurant Depot to pick up unopened, new items just for this inspection. When testing recipes at home, I was using a lot of regular grocery store-bought items. And many of them were already opened. I didn’t know if the inspector people would frown upon little details like that or what. But I wanted to go through this with fresh new items and with the actual (bought in bulk) items that I’d be using when producing for commerce.

My appointment was for 11 a.m. I had originally asked if we can make it for some time in the afternoon, but they said that morning would be better because it was going to take some time since demonstrating the production was going to be a part of the inspection. I showed up a bit early to get my station set up.

The kitchen was occupied by another company at the time of my inspection. But they were mostly just doing prep, -prepping of meat and such. And my items are vegan, so the owner made sure our tables were far separated.

I currently have a handful of items on my list. They weren’t expecting to see every single item being made, but more like a sample demonstration of a category of main items. Like, if I had five different cookies, five different pies, five different donuts, five different cakes etc.  on my menu, they’d want to see a demo of one of each, to observe the process.  I picked to do a demonstration on one of my cookies and one of my brownies. I had no idea if they wanted to see just a sample portion or an actual bulk production, the way I’d be producing for commerce. They were okay with seeing just sample portions. Procedure steps were really what they wanted to observe. I was relieved because WTF would I have done with bulks and bulks of cookies and brownies, especially when I wasn’t even technically permitted to sell them yet?

By the time the inspectors (they came in a pair) arrived, my station was set and ready to go. I started to tell them a little bit about what I was going to be making. They suggested that we start with the brownie, but I already had planned out making the cookies first since there was some chilling time involved. They agreed to it, but my way got a little frowned upon in the end. More on that later.

I started my nerve wracking demo by opening up the newly purchased block of Callebaut chocolate (the source of all things yummy). I started chopping away portions that I needed for both of my items. “I’ve never seen this chocolate before,” said one of the inspectors, closely examining the label.

I’m so used to doing everything in silence. I applied the silence here, thinking that they just wanted to observe. But they asked for a narration, an explanation of each step.

“I’m chopping chocolate for the two items,” I began my nervous narration. I proceeded to get my dry ingredients (for the cookies) together. They proceeded to analyze each dry ingredient and jotted them down in their notes.

Since my demo was to be enough just for sample portions, I did everything by hand. LGI didn’t have a smaller sized kithenaid mixer, only the big daddy gigantic one. They did have a handheld mixer, but I didn’t think that was really necessary.

When my dough was finished and time to stick in the walk-in to chill, I got my first warning.

Because I had failed to cover and label the cookie dough, they pointed out that that could be a risk factor. The dough was going to chill for just about a half hour or so, so I didn’t think too much of it. Maybe I was too nervous to think to do so. I’m still a little puzzled on how to go about this in other similar situations. Some items should not be covered right away (but the cookie dough, I realize, I should have covered). Again, coming from a restaurant kitchen background, I’ve been accustomed to doing things a certain way (meeting time efficiency was top priority). Sometimes we stick items in the walk-in when something needs to be chilled at a faster time. And of course, when something isn’t cooled all the way, we typically don’t wrap. CDPH insists on covering and labeling when sticking in the walk-in in a shared kitchen. It makes me wonder where this rule can be bent. I’d assume with frosted items, especially decorated items where covering will damage it? I can’t imagine that this covering step is a set in stone shared food facility rule with no exceptions to. I’ll abide by this rule from now, but I’m just curious, in case I ever do come across items that may benefit more if that rule wasn’t as strictly applied.  If you know more info on this, please share your knowledge. I should have asked them then and there, but my anxiety filled mind at the time had too much going on up there to think of asking.

As I got my first warning of shame, I took some time to clean in between. Since the wash sink was being used by the other guys (that do meat), I had to carry my dirty bowls and utensils all the way to the other kitchen. The inspectors stayed behind and did more studying of my ingredients and discussed more things amongst themselves (taking note of more fails, no doubt lol). While almost finishing up my cleaning, the inspectors strolled on by to where I was.

And they had more questions… I learned the proper cleaning methods in culinary school, every night when we had mountains of dirty bowls and utensils to clean at the end of the night. Back then, I think we all took turns in having roles, – one student in charge of the washing, another of the rinsing and sanitizing, and the rest of us drying and putting things away. It was a circus shit show every night, with 20 or so bodies running all over the places and scavenging to figure out what goes where.

I made another error, in something I had once learned properly to do. Because I had such few items to wash, I thought it would be doable to wash, rinse, and sanitize thoroughly through running soap, hot water, and sanitizer. But nope! According to CDPH, because my compartments were not filled up, this was another violation. I mean, running pressure adds additional pressure to clean the equipment more thoroughly, right? That’s what I’d think, but no. It’s not the CDPH way. So, I had to redo the washing process by starting to fill up all three compartments, soap, rinse, and sanitize. Strips of litmus papers were also pulled out to test the pH level of the sanitizer. They don’t mess around.

We got back to the kitchen I was using and I proceeded to prep the items for my second item, vegan flourless brownies. They told me if using some of the same equipment as the non gluten-free items, it may be encouraged to start with the gluten-free items first. My mind was going more for efficiency, given that equipments would be thoroughly cleaned in between anyway. But point taken.

Once I stuck the brownie into the oven, I took out the cookie dough and started to scoop to also throw into the oven. Both items bake at 350F.

“How are you keeping time and log?” they asked.

A timer…… oh God, that annoying thing that makes obnoxious noise every time it goes off, the thing that I never use. In the restaurant kitchen, I can do up to four or five tasks while having everything in check. I can have that thing in the oven, this thing on the stove, that thing in the mixer, this thing in the salamander, all while plating up an order. Surprisingly, the built in timer in my head usually seems to know exactly when to check for each thing.

“I check the time on my phone,” I told them, not going into the details about the built in timer in my head. More notes were diligently jotted by them. I played along and gave them a verbal estimated baking time for each item. When it was time to take out each item, they checked their times and said, “You are really good at that.” My built-in timer hardly fails. As I pulled out last item out of the oven, I sighed relief, having completed what felt like the most excruciating part of the inspection, baking under scrutiny!

While the baked items sat to cool, we went over the check list (which we went over more thoroughly when they returned) before they went to go take their lunch break.

I was starving but was too overcome with anxiety to really have much of an appetite to eat. I thought I’d just wait it out until they got back and wrap this thing up. But an hour passes by and I get a call saying that they’re going to be 30-40 minutes late. Within this lunch break time, I get a couple more of those calls. And by that time, the hanger pains start getting unbearable and I need food! I Yelp through the area to try to decide what to eat. I end up getting a burrito, eating quickly (while naturally a slow eater) to make sure I don’t get back late. I return feeling more energized and like a new woman, ready to wrap up this inspection.

I get back and patiently sit and wait in the break room. At this time, it’s dark out. My items are still in the empty kitchen. Being unfamiliar with the kitchen regulations, I don’t want to risk being charged more for the hours. So I start to move things back to my car. My cookies and brownies are fully cooled. I pack them up too.

“Are you leaving?” Marjan (owner) comes out and asks. I tell her I’m just putting away my stuff and still waiting for the inspectors. Hearing that they have still not returned, she is confused and shocked at how long they have been gone.

The inspectors returned over three hours since they’ve been gone. They apologized profusely, explaining that they had to look a lot of things up while writing the report. So the three hours were not entirely for eating and breaking! Much of it was for writing out the report….the report of shame! Lol

I sat and listened to one of the inspectors reading aloud the list of my violations, one by one. She was more of the silent observer throughout the inspection and this was the most in hearing from her. As listened in shame, I thought to myself, wow, I am so clueless on wtf I am doing! It took me a minute to brush off that feeling of defeat and realize that as an entrepreneur, I’ll probably be stumbling on many more of these kinds of moments throughout my journey. There’s always going to be stuff I might be clueless on, feel like a moron for not knowing, and/or feel overwhelmingly unprepared for. It was a moment of progression where I knew I’d have to begin mentally training myself to learn how to start moving forward from the “fails”.

I had labels to correct, items to get certified, and written plans (Food Safety Plan, Hazard Analysis, Recall Plan, etc.) to prepare. After completing and submitting all that was still required, this came in the mail, about two months later since the inspection.