Does Educational Intervention Reduce the Number of Food Violations.

• Main Author: Koechlin, Karen Koechlin M.
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Archive @ GSU 2009
• Subjects: violations; classroom-based; restaurant; food; environmental health; Public Health
• Online Access: http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/iph_theses/69; http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1068&context=iph_theses

The objective of this study was to examine the educational intervention that restaurant employees received to see if it reduced the number of food violations in Orange County, California, U.S.. The class, which began in 2007, is known as the Food Employee Education and Sanitation Training (FEEST). This study revealed that the post-test results from FEEST demonstrated a significant improvement in food safety knowledge, and almost all of the participants showed a significant improvement in food safety knowledge. A comparison of inspection reports immediately before and after participation in FEEST showed that food establishments greatly reduced the number of major violations, but the reduction in minor violations was minimal. Further results showed that overall, post-class inspections were not helpful in reducing the number of violations. Moreover, results showed that out of the participating restaurants, those that received a fee and formal letter requiring correction of the violations, known as a Notice of Violation (NOV) or Notice of Decision (NOD), do well on inspection reports in reducing major violations than those who did not receive one, but both types of restaurants were not able to significantly reduce the number of minor violations. These results might be associated with the knowledge and commitment of the restaurant employees. Restaurant employees are not using the food safety knowledge they gained during the educational intervention. Therefore, further training is required to educate restaurant employees, and more should be done to encourage the practice of safe food handling and sanitation.