On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 19:46:25 -0700, Russ Kepler
wrote:
Jerry Foster wrote:

As I recall reading, the local health inspector had, on more than one
occasion, warned McDonalds to turn down the temperature of the coffee before
someone got hurt. In any case, friends in the food business have told me
that the health codes generally require that hot foods be held at, as I
recall, at least 135 degrees. The McDonalds coffee was at something like
190 degrees. But, since this complied with the health code (exceeded it by
55 degrees...), the inspector couldn't, and didn't, cite them for it.

Food holding must be below 40 F or above 140 F, with a pile of
exceptions that I'm not going to even try memorizing.

That's contrary to anything I've ever heard - and I live near the
McDonalds in question, a block away in fact. I'm going to *have* to ask
for any reputable cite referencing this - my suspicion is that you're
repeating stories.

BTW: virtually everyone here reported getting coffee out of their coffee
makers at temperatures ranging from 160 to 190 degrees. Any particular
reason to expect that McDonalds can boil water at a lower temperature?

Water boils at the local altitude's temperature, that's physics that
Mickey Dees has no control over... ;-P

But the average Bunn-O-Matic style drip brewer doesn't run an open
boiler, they run a pressure regulator and a timer system to run the
water through the heating element 'boiler' at a certain GPH rate, and
this can vary the "boiling" brewing temperature. I'll bet the end
product is better if you get the water as hot as practical - or they
might be boosting the temperature to get maximum yield from each
filter basket of grounds. But either way I've never done the
research.

Then there are the design decisions of the machine's filter basket
system for controlling heat loss, and the wattage of the warming
heaters under the brewed coffee pots (or storage containers for the
ones that dispense from a faucet). These variables are controlled
during machine manufacture.

And after all that, Darwin's Law still should trump all. Man or
Woman, if you are stupid enough to try holding a crushable Styrofoam
or coated paper cup of steaming hot coffee with an easy-to-pop-off
plastic lid between your legs, you almost deserve whatever may happen.

Even drinking a cup of very hot coffee in a confined space like a
moving automobile you are driving or riding in is both potentially
hazardous and totally foreseeable, since if you spill you cannot take
immediate measures to keep your Jewels from cooking. You can't stand
up and pull the steaming clothes away from the affected body parts -
it can take you 30 seconds or longer to pull to the side and come to a
safe stop, and by then it's a moot point. And you most likely don't
have immediate access to ice or cold water to 'put out the fire' -
plus it's very hard on the upholstery and electronics.

-- Bruce --

--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
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