A three-year study involving observation of 31 U.S. restaurants supported the idea that food safety training helps, but that further intervention bolsters food safety compliance in the kitchen.
The study compared the behavior of kitchen staff who had been through the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation’s ServSafe training to those who had no training at all, and those who were subject to intervention beyond the training.
Researchers from Kansas State University started by soliciting from kitchen staff their perceptions of barriers to practicing targeted food safety behaviors — work surface handling, hand washing and use of thermometers. Then, researchers observed employees in four different situations: with no training, with only the ServSafe training, with both the ServSafe training and interventions following the training, and with only the extra interventions.
Overall, the research showed a similar improvement above no training for either ServSafe or the interventions. Kitchen workers who went through both ServSafe and were exposed to interventions, however, had consistently better food safety practices, suggesting that further intervention beyond training and certification may be beneficial, said Kevin Roberts, assistant professor of hospitality management and dietetics for Kansas State and co-author of the study.
ServSafe is a food safety certification program for the foodservice industry. Many restaurants must adhere to policies requiring food safety-trained personnel in-house at all times.
“ServSafe provides the knowledge, and employees need that, but there’s more to their behavior than just knowledge,” Roberts said.
Annika Stensson, director of media relations for the National Restaurant Association, said the association realizes the importance of highlighting food safety standards after training.
“We do support the additional measures in addition to the training,” Stensson said.
As of mid-September, more than 3.5 million foodservice professionals had gone through the ServSafe program.
Study methods
To intervene on the employees’ hand-washing practices, researchers created posters that were more direct than the average kitchen poster.
“In our survey we gauged barriers, and time was the biggest barrier to hand-washing,” Roberts said. “Many said they didn’t have time to wash their hands, even though it only takes 20 seconds.”
Instead of a poster that addressed when it is appropriate to wash hands, which Roberts said is normal for a kitchen to have, researchers created a poster that reminded staff it only takes 20 seconds to wash their hands.
The posters also made a connection between kitchen workers’ food safety behavior and their job stability.
“They didn’t connect food safety with their job stability,” Roberts said. “They didn’t think about how the restaurant could be closed for a long time or forever because of their behavior.”
Another incentive researchers offered was a cash prize to employees in the operation with the best food safety practices. The researchers didn’t, however, tell the employees exactly which practices it was observing.
Lastly, researchers provided thermometers to many restaurants that did not have them. Although employees had gone through training that emphasized the importance of internal temperatures, many restaurants did not keep up on their thermometer supplies.
As researchers were in the kitchen observing workers, Roberts said they were concerned about the Hawthorne Effect, which is a change in behavior caused by a subject’s knowledge that he or she is being watched. Roberts said researchers tracked behavior, and the only difference they recorded was between the very first and the last two hours of observation.
“They wouldn’t be able to maintain that (first-hour behavior),” Roberts said.
Roberts said plans are in place to increase research on food safety practices in foodservice.