Third-Party Auditing Programs Significantly Reduce Chance Of Foodborne Illness At Restaurants, Steritech Study Shows

Charlotte, NC - In conjunction with the start of the restaurant industry's largest trade show, the National Restaurant Association's Restaurant, Hotel & Motel Supply show, The Steritech Group, Inc. has released its annual Food Safety Audit Trend Report, an in-depth third party study of food safety practices at over 800 restaurants across the United States. The full report will be released to the public on Steritech's website on Friday, May 19th.

"Our research continues to show exciting improvements in restaurant food safety," said Mark Jarvis, Chief Executive Officer of Steritech. "Operators are discovering the value of rigorously measuring and managing food safety and quality at the restaurant level and all the way up through the supply chain."

The Food Safety Audit Trend Report is a review of audit data from a group of 807 full-service restaurant locations. The research tracks improvement over the course of a year, based on results from an initial audit and a follow-up audit a year later. The standard audit format used in this research conforms closely to The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Food Code.

The study evaluates the practices associated with 7 major categories, 5 of which have been used by the FDA in similar studies. Data are grouped according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) ranking of those factors most commonly associated with foodborne illness outbreaks: 1) improper holding temperature; 2) poor personal hygiene; 3) inadequate cooking; 4) contaminated equipment; and 5) food from unsafe sources. In addition, the study presents data in two other categories: 1) other critical issues; and 2) non-critical issues. In total, the research reviews 24 critical line items – those practices or behaviors that could lead directly to foodborne illness – and 12 non-critical items – those that are not likely to cause foodborne illness directly but indicate an area of concern.

This year's study also incorporates data that tracked the time of day when violations occurred and revealed several interesting trends.

Overall, the report shows improvement in 30 of 36 of the line items, with substantial decreases in violations in many areas, substantiating the benefits of establishing a formalized food safety program that places emphasis on educating employees on corrective actions. In three line items, no change was reported. A few of the notable results are listed below.

Critical Violations

• A 39.8% decrease in the potential for contamination of food, a line item that deals with the reduction of the likelihood of cross-contamination between raw and ready-to-eat foods and other types of potential contamination.
  
• A 33.8% decrease in the number of violations of resulting from improper handwashing practices.
  
• A 29.4% decrease in the number of violations related to food contact surfaces and utensils being in good condition.

Non-Critical Violations

• A 26.7% decrease in violations of potentially hazardous foods being thawed properly.
  
• An 18.4% improvement in in-use utensils being properly handled and stored.
  
• A 13.8% reduction in violations related to the proper stocking and condition of handwash facilities.

Several other trends deserve attention, including the substantial number of violations for cold potentially hazardous food being held at temperatures higher than 41°F. While a small improvement was noted in this area, just under 50% of locations experienced a violation related to this issue. In addition, the holding of hot potentially hazardous foods was an area in which violations actually increased in the study. These results suggest that further worker education and management engagement are needed to correct holding temperature issues. Improper holding temperature is the number one factor most commonly associated with foodborne illness, according to the CDC.

Handwashing and maintaining adequate handwashing facilities both remain important challenges for food establishments, as data from the study reveals. However, many of the line items associated with handwashing and handwashing facilities experience dramatic decreases with the implementation of a food safety program, indicating that education can play a significant role in reducing these types of violations. An uptick in outbreaks associated with norovirus proves that these issues are not far from the spotlight, however, and foodservice operators must remain diligent in enforcing proper handwashing practices.

The time of day study revealed a marked increase in several critical violations in later parts of the day. Again, improper holding temperatures topped the list, with the percentage of violations of both cold and hot holding of potentially hazardous foods increasing during audits performed in the lunch, afternoon and evening time periods. The overall percentage of violations increased during later audit times in the areas of handwashing and handwash facility maintenance, storage of chemicals, potential for contamination of food, and proper storage of clean utensils.

"Consumer confidence has been shaken by widespread and growing public health concerns," says Jarvis. "Restoring confidence is the shared responsibility of all restaurant operators, and clearly there is progress being made.

SOURCE: The Steritech Group, Inc.