A cafeteria routinely prepares large batches of meat stews in the morning, leaves them on hot-hold at 120–130°F for an entire shift, and then serves them throughout the day. Several patrons report diarrhea about 12 hours after eating. Evaluate the most appropriate corrective actions the food service manager should implement immediately.

• A. Discard the current stews, implement rapid cooling of large batches (divide into shallow containers and refrigerate within 2 hours), ensure hot-holding above 140°F or use time-limited service with precise discard times, and retrain staff on time–temperature control to prevent C. perfringens multiplication.
• B. Continue current practices because stews held at 120–130°F are considered safe for long periods, but add a weekly antibiotic prophylaxis for patrons as an extra safeguard.
• C. Only stop serving the stews on weekends; no change in holding practices is necessary for weekday operations, because outbreaks at cafeterias are unusual and symptoms are typically unrelated.
• D. Reduce the stew recipes to increase acidity since pH is the only factor controlling C. perfringens growth and temperature is irrelevant, then continue holding the stews at the same temperature.

Answer: (A)