Ok, I know food has to be heated right through, so why...

[Restorer]

is it Ok to put cold tuna mayo on a hot jacket potato, thereby partially reheating the fish?

I am wondering because our school kitchen has come under fire for putting hot gravy on cold roast meat (meat cooked the day before). The hygiene check says this is a big no-no, which makes sense to me. But, the tuna on jacket seems to be OK.

Well it's hard to be specific but:

What is the purpose of the hot gravy on cold meat? Is it to heat the meat? As an accompaniment to cold meat?

How is the meat treated before and during service? How is the gravy treated? Is it hot held? For how long? How?

Cold roast meat is completely different from tinned tuna. It is a much higher risk product and the two cannot really be compared.

How do you know what was discussed at your school's FH inspection?

The worst case scenario is that the gravy was cooked, put on to the cold meat with the express intention of reheating the meat (very unwise) and was then hot held before and during service. Or even perhaps left at ambient temperature before and during service (I really hope not!)

I work there Pseudo. But not in the kitchen!

The meat was cooked the day before because the cook says she doesn't have time on the day. The gravy is served because it goes with a roast dinner. No-one thought about the fact that you'd be serving luke warm meat as a result.

That's all been dealt with and corrected now, I just wondered why it's OK for tuna or other "traditional" jacket toppings, but not for the cold turkey/gammon.

The hot gravy was poured onto the cold meats, as the children collected their lunch.

And.... Cold meat treated in this way in a school was behind the 2005 Wales E. coli 0157 outbreak in which a 5 year old died.

Yes, I get that they did a very bad thing with the meat and gravy, but why is it OK with the jacket and tuna? Is it OK to put coronation chicken on a Jacket?

Well how often do you put cold tuna on a hot potato and then hold it before service? Not very often I imagine as it would be pretty nasty.

The gravy wasn't held either, just poured onto the plate as the children collected their meal.

Maybe it's because the cold meat is submerged by the hot gravy, while the cold tuna just sits on top of the hot potato.

I think as Badger says, tinned tuna is a completely lower risk compared to cold meat.

But moreover, I'm thinking "eeeew" to the idea of cold meat with hot gravy. That doesn't sound apetising.

Cold meat with hot gravy is far better than ruining good roast beef by microwaving it and turning it to rubber.

Wouldn't have thought it a great hazard because you eat it straight away like the tuna on the spud.

School dinners are slightly different though. Food could be standing for longer than in your home.

I think cold coronation chicken would be just as bad; mashed through a hot potato it would partially reheat the chicken.

Thanks all. I wasn't disputing the fact that the gravy was wrong, or that the tuna is ok (guess it must be as it's ubiquitous )just curious as to why. I always thought fish was just as 'dangerous' as meat.

Mary there are so many problems with our kitchen, the fact the food us unapetizing is the least of them :-(

I thought the E. coli outbreak was because of cross contamination between raw meat and cooked meat.