A Comparison of Food Safety Knowledge Among Restaurant Managers, by Source of Training and Experience, in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma

• Published in: Journal of environmental health Vol. 66; no. 2; pp. 9 - 14
• Main Authors: Lynch, Robert A., Elledge, Brenda L., Griffith, Charles C., Boatright, Daniel T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Environmental Health Association 01.09.2003
• Subjects: Administrative Personnel - education; Administrative Personnel - standards; Agricultural management; Certification; Diseases; Environmental health; Environmental management; FEATURES; Food; Food contamination; Food contamination & poisoning; Food Contamination - prevention & control; Food handling; Food Handling - standards; Food safety; Food service; Food Supply; Foodborne diseases; Foodborne illnesses; Health Education; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health surveys; Humans; Industrial training; Inservice Training; Knowledge management; Oklahoma; outbreaks; Q1; Q3; Restaurants; Restaurants - standards; Safety; Safety and security measures; Statistics; Surveys and Questionnaires; Training; United States; USA, Oklahoma; Oklahoma; United States; United States > US; Oklahoma County Oklahoma
• ISSN: 0022-0892

The annual incidence of illness related to food consumption continues to present a challenge to environmental health management. A significant fraction of cases have been attributed to consumption of food in restaurants, and as the number of meals eaten away from the home continues to rise, the potential for large-scale foodborne-disease outbreaks will continue to increase. Food handlers in retail establishments contribute to the incidence of foodborne disease; therefore, it is essential that workers and management staff have a thorough understanding of safe food practices. Since the training, certification, and experience of food service managers vary greatly, it is also likely that managers' knowledge base may differ. In the study reported here, restaurant managers were administered a survey designed to measure their understanding of basic food safety principles. The sources of training, certification, and experience were found to significantly affect the level of food safety knowledge; however, increased hours of training did not increase knowledge. In addition, the time lapsed since training did not significantly affect the level of knowledge.