In Seattle and around the globe, many chef's are adopting modern techniques like sous vide. In King County, the health department highly frowns upon sous vide cooking and requires additional hurdles and procedures to be in place in order to receive a health code variance. A health code variance, granted on a case by case basis, is a privilege from the health department to utilize oxygen free, vacuum sealed environment (anaerobic) cooked at low temperatures. In order to obtain a variance you must first develop a process called a HACCP plan. A HACCP plan is a step by step, detailed analysis and description of process applied to a product to be cooked sous vide, from the moment it enters your door to the moment it is plated. That plan needs to be documented thoroughly, deviations need to be recorded and follow a process in place for CCP's. It sounds confusing but the reality is, once in place, it is quite easy for the HACCP team to follow.
Dealing with the health department is where most of my time comes into play. Why hide your canned goods, vacuum sealers and circulators in worry that the inspector will require your food to be destroyed when you have the option for a variance. Take the time and spend the money now to save later.
