Is it reasonable to assume a Safeway that was rebuilt 10 years ago has a diesel generator?

So I called. I asked if they had a generator. They said they did not. But they did toss out some stuff. Cool.. I will decided to walk up and see what was tossed.

Deli stuff was tossed. My main concern was sour cream since I was in the mood for burritos.

https://stfudamnit.com/ryan/saf.mp4

And these are the open racks which barely keep cool as is. Sour cream, yogurt, biscuits and cookie dough, cottage cheese. Nothing in the freezers was removed. And those are glass and cool quickly.

I am not shopping there again for a few weeks so I can be sure they clear inventory.

A pretty poor showing.

I give them credit for being honest with you and admitting they had no generator. I also give them credit for tossing some foods. I’m sure they have temperature monitors on the critical items and are doing what is required to keep food safe.
The temperature monitors are unaffected by power outages and record all the info required to ensure the food is safe. They alarm and report if the temperature moves out of the safe band.
check out these devices by Maxim ibutton. They are self contained, small – the size of a stack of dimes, are tamper resistant, and are super reliable. They record everything.

@LuckyGuy :: Didn’t know that was a thing. Slightly comforting.

The health department in our state requires constant monitoring of temperature in all freezers and refrigerators of restaurants grocery stores etc. it can be done manually or it can be done electronically as @LuckyGuy showed. If the store was closed they also put covers on the open freezers and refrigerators which would help to keep the food items cold enough.

Those ibutttons are really nice. You program them for the mission and they work for 10 years with no intervention. Swing the magic reader over them and they report out the information you need.
They are occasionally (secretly) slipped into shipments to verify temperature and/or ‘g’ levels for shock.
I would have no trouble shopping at that Safeway today. I figure they earned your business by being honest.

How do they verify that temperatures are being monitored? Do it by random checking or need logs or something? What if something goes wrong after store is closed?

@imrainmaker I know how truck shipments do it. The receiver is handed a time stamped strip chart or data file that covers the entire trip from shipper to the receiver’s dock. There are bands that show the desired temperature. There are secondary bands that allow you to be “out of spec” for a short while (x minutes at y temperature) to cover loading and unloading and on the road inspections.
The store would have built-in alarms either through wifi but most likely land-line telephone. that notifies someone there is a problem. (Think:“Help! My temperature is fallen and I can’t get up.”) It is a necessary but minor cost to the store owner. And food and health inspectors occasionally ask for the data.

The ibuttons are slipped into shipments secretly as a check to make sure everyone is following the rules. They cost about $5 a piece so you can afford to slip several of them in an important shipment. They can be reused and last a long time!

^Thanks for the info..)

Not at all

@imrainmaker Many refrigerated trailers have small(ish) battery operated, windup strip chart recorders that have been working since the stone age. They are the approved standard and charts are really easy to photograph, scan or fax to the interested party. The ibuttons are virtually invisible, accurate, light, cheap, durable, but require software and a reader so they are not used as often as they should be. You have to make your own Excel chart to send to a customer and that is a pain for most shippers.
As you can tell, I love them.

This was an interesting question. You would think that a grocery store would have a generator.

@Dutchess_III Agreed – especially if they have natural gas available. Natural gas standby generators are so reliable and easy to maintain. They don’t gunk up like a diesel or gasoline engine. A 14–20kW generator would be way more than enough to keep the refrigerators and freezers running for a good sized store. $15–20,000 would do it.

It would probably pay for itself in 5 years, especially in areas that are prone to black outs.