Colorado State University Extension
SafeFood Rapid Response Network


SAFEFOOD NEWS - Winter 2002- Vol 6, No. 2

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Study Looks At Factors That Promote Safe Food Handling In Restaurants

One of the food safety objectives of the Healthy People 2010 Initiative is to improve to the safety of food handling and preparation behaviors in retail food establishments. The Initiative also calls for improved food safety training of retail employees.

To be effective, education and training programs need to result in adoption of safe food handling practices on the part of food service employees. This process involves becoming sufficiently aware and accepting of the risks of foodborne illness, being motivated to make changes in food handling behaviors, and being able to overcome barriers that might prevent those changes.

To better understand the characteristics and factors that promote and predict safe food handling practices, a coalition of Extension specialists and officials from Health and Agriculture Departments in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana conducted a series of 12 focus group sessions, four in each state, with restaurant managers and front-line employees of chain and independently-owned restaurants. Based on issues raised in the focus group sessions, eight follow-up in-depth interviews were conducted with managers of full-service restaurants in Fort Collins, Colorado. The results of the study are summarized below:

Study participants identified a wide number of factors that influence food-handling practices in restaurants. Factors that negatively affected safe food handling included improper or inadequate hand washing, inadequate kitchen setups, malfunctioning equipment, lack of monitored systems in place to ensure food is prepared, served and stored in a safe manner, staff shortages and employees working while sick.

Key factors identified that promoted food safety in restaurant settings included having adequate numbers of trained managers and employees that saw food safety as a potential concern for themselves and their customers, understood the importance of hand washing, and had a good working knowledge of safe food-handling practices. Ready access to hand washing sinks, filled soap dispensers and paper towels, having equipment like ice paddles and blast chillers that promoted rapid cooling, and having food handling and monitoring systems in place that promoted safe food handling were also seen as important.

Based on study results, project directors developed the following recommendations for restaurant owners and managers:

•  Make sure you and your managers value the importance of following safe food handling practices. Employees follow the example set by management. · Encourage frequent hand washing.
•  Promote good health among employees. Consider providing flu and hepatitis A shots. · Set up a HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) plan for your restaurant's operation and require monitoring.
•  Anticipate customer rushes. Be aware of events that may bring in extra business and prepare accordingly.
•  Train, Retrain and Reward. Consider requiring new employees to take and pass food safety education certification workshops before promotion or receiving an increase in wage.

Contact: Patricia Kendall, PhD, RD., Extension Specialist, Project Director. (970) 491-7334.

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Updated Monday, August 29, 2011