On August 12, 2024 I ordered 240 pieces of chicken from your Chicago Heights location, store # 3167. This order was scheduled for pick-up on August 17th, 2024. This order was picked up on the agreed upon date and time. this is where things turn very very bad.
After receiving my order and preparing to plate it, the 2 chiefs I hired noticer that while the fried chicken looked just fine, that both the grilled and the jerk chicken were undercooked. This had the potential to be very dangerous with a room full of senior citizens eating raw uncooked chicken.
Fortunately for me, the 2 chiefs, because of their insight and expertise in the food industry and in food prep, were able to tell by the chickens color and texture that it was undercooked, and upon breaking several individual pieces apart they were able to verify that this chicken was indeed undercooked. with a room full of people, now what do I do.
1. I was glad I had the 2 chiefs on hand. I had hired them, "NOT" to cook chicken, but to prepare some vegetarian and vegan dishes for some of the seniors.
2. I was fortunate that the venue I rented for this event had a full kitchen with a double oven.
I now had to pay the 2 chiefs ($100 each), to separate and finish properly preparing the chicken that "Jewel" should have made sure was properly prepared for consumption BEFOR sending it out.
Coming from a quality control and food safety background for 18 years at Kellogg's, many questions and concerns come to mind. Where were the cooking checks and balances that should have been in place AND that if in place would have caught this mistake? Do you indeed have any food safety and quality control measures in place that will catch issues like this? This situation could have resulted in a large group of people contracting Salmonella. Are there standard cooking times for each product that would insure items are fully cooked? Are internal temps taken to insure that items are fully cooked? Is there any oversight by management to assure that large order are properly prepared and not rushed, thus insuring food is fully cooked? ect
I am pondering what to do about this situation, and with this information. Put it on social media, report it to the F.D. A., ect. I know that I am not happy about it.
Below please find and examine the attached documents.
Sincerely
Edward Cowans
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Jewel-Osco really dropped the ball on that chicken order. You’re lucky your chefs caught the undercooked disaster before it turned into a health hazard for your guests. With your experience in food safety, it’s clear you know exactly how big of a mess this could have been. Now, the ball’s in their court to explain how this happened and what they’re going to do about it. Sounds like they’ve got some serious explaining to do before this goes public.