bagel w c/c issue

November 9, 2009 10:02 AM

I'm thinking of putting cream cheese on bagels, wrapping them in plastic wrap and selling them. I expect to be sold out in 2-3 hours. Should I be concerned about the cream cheese going bad? Any other food safety issues?
posted by rudy26 to food & drink (19 comments total)

Will they be in the sun, or in a cooler?
posted by Think_Long at 10:05 AM on November 9, 2009

I've bought bagels just that way from street vendors in NY; I'm still alive. No idea how long they were sitting there.
posted by CathyG at 10:07 AM on November 9, 2009

Are there any health department restrictions in your area? Where I live, this wouldn't be allowed and I could be subject to a hefty fine. Remove the cream cheese from the equation and I'd be fine.
posted by cooker girl at 10:07 AM on November 9, 2009

Can you store them in a cooler with some ice packs?
posted by WeekendJen at 10:20 AM on November 9, 2009

The cream cheese won't go bad at all. It's surprisingly resilient.

Anecdotal evidence: I went on a three day backpacking trip and the cream cheese packets I'd brought were still good on the end of the last day.
posted by scrutiny at 10:22 AM on November 9, 2009

i've seen vendors package the cream cheese separately (in little plastic cups w/ the lid. similar to what you'd use at the salad bar of a mexican fast food chain). the cups were kept in a cooler and/or on ice. offer plastic knives to go along the cream cheese.
posted by mittenedsex at 10:23 AM on November 9, 2009

From experience, best to lightly spread some butter before you put the cream cheese on - this to prevent sogginess. Cheers.
posted by watercarrier at 10:25 AM on November 9, 2009

With regards to regulations, most places have a rule that food can't sit between a certain temperature (The Danger Zone)for more than a given span of time, generally about 30 minutes if you're going to be storing it to consume later. However, if it is to be consumed immediately, it can sit outside for longer. How long depends on the regulations in your area and can extend from 2-4 hours.
posted by scrutiny at 10:26 AM on November 9, 2009

Just get an ice pack and throw it in the same bag/container and you're set. Or even better, get a cooler. Why risk it?

But honestly, it shouldn't be that bad unless left in the sun/heat.
posted by smartypantz at 10:27 AM on November 9, 2009

In BC you'd have to store them at 4C or lower (IE: in a cooler with ice) as you're only allowed to store a prepared food product at room temperature for up to an hour accumulatively.
posted by Mitheral at 10:33 AM on November 9, 2009

I've bought bagels just that way from street vendors in Philly; I'm still alive. No idea how long they were sitting there.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 10:36 AM on November 9, 2009

Any other food safety issues?

It depends on your state and municipality and the venue in which you're selling these. Exchanging prepared food for money is a pretty regulated area of law, and in my city you'd be required to prepare the food in a commercial kitchen, hold it at a certain temperature, have a license, have a handwash station, handle the money with gloves, and all sorts of things like that. I have seen our health inspector shut a person down for not having a license. So depending on where you live, you might be taking a risk. And if you do have a system for getting a license and working within public health guidelines, they will actually spell out for you whether these need refrigeration or not, for how long, and at what temperature.
posted by Miko at 10:43 AM on November 9, 2009 [2 favorites]

I'm agreeing with everyone who says "You should definitely check your local laws before you sell food in a public venue."
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:17 AM on November 9, 2009

When I make cheesecake or dip of some sort that involves cream cheese I will often leave it on the counter several hours to overnight to bring it to room temperature. I've never had a problem with this. You should definitely check with local laws though about what's legal in your area.
posted by Kimberly at 12:39 PM on November 9, 2009

I went on a three day backpacking trip and the cream cheese packets I'd brought were still good on the end of the last day.

That's not really the same thing though, assuming you mean those foil-packaged individual servings. They are manufactured sterile and airtight so as to not require refrigeration at all, just like those cartons of soymilk or condensed milk that don't have to be refrigerated until after they've been opened.
posted by Rhomboid at 5:04 PM on November 9, 2009

Seconding that we eat bagels w/cream cheese from street vendors in Philly prepared just the way you describe, without incident.
posted by desuetude at 7:02 PM on November 9, 2009

What's your net worth and how much of it do you want to keep? It doesn't matter how good your food is or how "safe" it is, if someone gets sick, for whatever reason, you can be sued. The best defense is having dotted all of the i's and crossed all of the t's. The minimum starting place for you would be taking a food safety course. These can run from one day to one week. If you had taken one, you would not be here asking this question. In addition, you would know a lot more about preparing, storing and selling food to the public. If you live in or near a medium-sized city, there is a food safety course near you.

Next, you really do need to research the laws and regulations in your area. Some places let you get away with almost anything until the mayor get food poisoning. Other areas have numerous esoteric regulations that will set you back many dollars to conform to and many, many more if you are caught ignoring them.

"innocence of the law is no excuse."
posted by Old Geezer at 7:52 PM on November 9, 2009

Folks have been making and eating cream cheese for several thousand years. Before refrigeration, do you suppose they all stood around watching their cream cheese and then, when it reached perfection, had to gobble it down immediately because it was going to go bad in three hours? I would worry about the bagels going stale before I'd worry about the cheese.
posted by gum at 8:01 AM on November 10, 2009

To be clear, it's not that I think there's going to be any spoilage on the cream cheese, but there are definitely public policy worries that someone making a business of this wants to consider. It doesn't matter, citation-wise, if it seems and feels safe to the indivual, or what was done throughout history - it only matters whether you've met the letter of the law. I can think of a lot of local regulations that are bone stupid, and yet we've got to meet them in all our events, or risk getting shut down immediately and possibly fined.
posted by Miko at 8:13 AM on November 10, 2009