Raw meat/seafood over bottled beer

Our other chef feels that is okay to store raw meat/seafood on a rack in our walk in cooler that sits above where we store bottled and canned beverages. I disagree, but he considers the beverages to be "sealed" and not a food safety concern.
Best Answer
Common sense tells us that beverages can contact some of the outside surface of their container while being poured, especially with cans (which also sometimes open by pushing a bit of the outside ... INSIDE the beverage). Also, if bottles or cans are served as-is, people's lips are not unlikely to contact surfaces that were exposed in storage.
Also, beverage containers are typically served from raw, unlike other canned ingredients.
Also, while pathogens might have a hard time surviving on a reasonably clean metal or glass surface, storing them like that could potentially coat that surface with a layer of gunk that can harbor them.
While these risks seem to be commonly accepted, negligently exposing the containers to a risk of having their outside surface contaminated with concentrated pathogens - and nourishment for them! - seems to be something that might or might not be against regulations, but is certainly negligent and putting patrons at an avoidable risk.
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