Say hello to real Peking duck! After years of strict temperature regulations, the Department of Health has finally made revisions which allow roasted meat to be exposed in the open for up to four hours at any temperature, The Wall Street Journal reports. Previously, "potentially hazardous prepared foods" were to be kept below 41 degrees or above 140 degrees, and only out for up to two hours, making the traditional practice of hanging duck, chicken, and pork by storefront windows very difficult.
Ever since the Health Department's inspectors began assessing restaurants, fast food joints like Pizza Hut, Burger King, and White Castle have finally benefited from their practice of throwing pre-frozen foods into bubbling vats of oil; sure the junk will eventually destroy your insides, but the place is clean as a whistle! Chinese restaurants were among the worst offenders, slapped with an average of 18.20 naughty points. Until these laxer rules came into effect on July 21, Chinese kitchens had been forced to compromise, some cooking roasted meats at higher temperatures than necessary.
"I think the city and Health Department have to partner up more to learn about how certain foods are prepared by certain cultures," Assemblywoman Grace Meng (D-Queens) told the WSJ. Dan Nguyen of Eye Heart New York also noted, "How many traditional ethnic foods don’t fit the accepted preparation standards of American food? Though I guess the health department would argue that an E. Coli infection feels just as shitty whether or not it came from a meticulously prepared traditional dish." Still, we ought to be careful about blindly throwing everything into the freezer, lest fast food take over the entire city (oh, wait.)—or worse, we end up like this poor guy.
