Assessing Employee Health Policies for Reporting and Excluding Ill Food Employees in Restaurants within the United States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Girvin Liggans ◽  
Marc S. Boyer ◽  
Veronica S. Moore ◽  
Laurie B. Williams
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Fast Food ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Employee Health ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Food Contact Surfaces ◽  
Multiple Unit ◽  
Retail Food

Preventing ill food employees from spreading pathogens to food and food contact surfaces remain an important objective of retail food safety policy in the United States. Since 2005, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recommended food establishments implement employee health policies that include requirements for the exclusion or restriction of ill food employees and reporting, to the person in charge, symptoms or diagnosis of certain diseases transmitted by food. The incorporation of this recommendation, however, has not been widely studied. The purpose of this exploratory study was to assess the presence and prevalence of employee health policies at fast food and full-service restaurants in the United States. More than 50% of fast food and full-service restaurants were found to have non-existent employee health policies for each of the five recommended components specified in the FDA Food Code. Results showed 17.41% of fast food and 12.88% of full-service restaurants had all five recommended components. Moreover, most restaurants with all five recommended employee health policy components were part of a multiple-unit operation and found to have more developed food safety management systems than restaurants with none of the recommended components. Further attention and research into the impediments associated with developing and implementing employee health policies in restaurants is warranted.

Handwashing Observations in Fast-Food and Full-Service Restaurants: Results from the 2014 FDA Retail Food Risk Factors Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Verrill ◽  
Marc Boyer ◽  
Laurie Williams ◽  
Jessica Otto ◽  
Amy Lando ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
Foodborne Pathogens ◽  
Fast Food ◽  
Management System ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
Safety Management System ◽  
Food Protection ◽  
Food Contact Surfaces ◽  
Fast Food Restaurants ◽  
Retail Food

Properly executed handwashing by food employees can greatly minimize the risk of transmitting foodborne pathogens to food and food contact surfaces in restaurants. However, food employee handwashing is often not done correctly nor does it occur as often as it should. The purpose of this study was to assess the relative impact of 1) the convenience and accessibility of handwashing facilities; 2) the maintenance of handwashing supplies, 3) multi-unit status, 4) having a Certified Food Protection Manager, and 5) having a Food Safety Management System on compliance with proper handwashing. Results showed marked differences in handwashing behaviors between fast-food and full-service restaurants. Forty-five percent of fast-food restaurants and 57% of full-service restaurants were found to be out of compliance for washing hands correctly. Fifty-seven percent of fast-food establishments and 78% of full-service establishments were out-of-compliance for employee hands being washed when required. Logistic regression results point toward the benefits of accessibility and maintenance of the handwashing sink and food establishments having a Food Safety Management System to increase the likelihood of employees washing hands when they are supposed to and washing them correctly when they do.

scholarly journals 8.I. Workshop: Populist radical right and health: National policies and global trends

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
The United States ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
National Policies ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
Populist Radical Right ◽  
The Welfare State

Abstract Populist radical right (PRR) parties have been steadily expanding, not only in the number of supporters they gain and the seats they win in governments, but more importantly they have been increasingly elected into governmental coalitions as well as presidential offices. With the prominence of these authoritarian, nationalistic and populist parties, it is often difficult to discern what kind of policies they actually stand for. Particularly with regards to the welfare state and public health, it is not always clear what these parties stand for. At times they call for a reduction of health-related welfare provision, despite the fact that this goes against the will of the “ordinary people”, their core supporters; they often promote radical reductions of welfare benefits among socially excluded groups - usually immigrants, whom are most in need of such services; and finally they often mobilize against evidence-based policies. The purpose of this workshop is to present the PRRs actual involvement in health care and health policies across various countries. As PRR parties increase and develop within but also outside of the European continent it is necessary to keep track of their impact, particularly with regards to health and social policies. Although research surrounding PRR parties has significantly expanded over the last years, their impact on the welfare state and more specifically health policies still remains sparse. This workshop will present findings from the first comprehensive book connecting populist radical right parties with actual health and social policy effects in Europe (Eastern and Western) as well as in the United States. This workshop presents five country cases (Austria, Poland, the Netherlands, the United States) from the book Populist Radical Right and Health: National Policies and Global Trends. All five presentations will address PRR parties or leaders and their influence on health, asking the questions “How influential are PRR parties or leaders when it comes to health policy?” “Do the PRR actually have an impact on policy outcomes?” and “What is the actual impact of the health policies implemented by PRR parties or leaders?” After these five presentations, the participants of the workshop will be engaged in an interactive discussion. Key messages As the number of PRR parties increase worldwide and their involvement in national governments become inevitable, new light must be shed on the impact these political parties have on public health. Politics needs to become better integrated into public health research. The rise of PRR parties in Europe might have serious consequences for public health and needs to be further explored.

An Analysis of Tuna Recalls in the United States, 2002 through 2020

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika Rene Blickem ◽  
Jon W. Bell ◽  
Deborah Mona Baumgartel ◽  
John DeBeer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Hazard Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Chemical Contamination ◽  
Treatment Groups ◽  
Critical Control Points ◽  
Fresh Frozen ◽  
Foreign Materials ◽  
Shelf Stable

This manuscript reviews 18 years of voluntary recalls for commercially sold tuna in the United States. This recall information is a valuable indicator of the failure to implement procedures for food safety. The voluntary recalls involve fresh, frozen, processed, hermetically sealed and retorted in a shelf stable pack (i.e., canned tuna), and formulated into other tuna products. The FDA regulations that regulate the capture, processing, transportation, and sale of raw and processed seafood are discussed. These regulations include the current Good Manufacturing Practices, the Food Modernization Act, the Emergency Permit Control, Low Acid Canned Foods, the Seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, Food Labeling, and Sanitary Food Transportation. The importance of traceability and Food Safety Culture to successfully prevent or implement recalls is also discussed. The recalls themselves were separated into product treatment groups: uncooked, canned shelf-stable items, and using tuna as an ingredient. The recalls were further categorized and summarized by reason or cause, such as biological and chemical contamination, undeclared ingredients, under-processing, and foreign materials. The primary causes of recalls of the reviewed tuna products were, in order, Listeria monocytogenes , undeclared allergens, elevated histamine levels, and under-processing of retorted tuna items. The recalls for elevated levels of histamine primarily occurred in uncooked (raw) tuna. Recalls for Listeria sp. and undeclared allergens were considered to be primarily Class I recalls, while recalls for elevated levels of histamine and under-processing were almost always assigned to the less serious Class II designation.

scholarly journals McDonald's — Much Maligned, But an Engine of Economic Development

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1850123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian E. Tschoegl
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Fast Food ◽  
Food Industry ◽  
The United States ◽  
External Effects ◽  
Fast Food Industry ◽  
The Us ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Backward Linkages

Critics have excoriated the US fast-food industry in general, and McDonald's most particularly, both per se and as a symbol of the United States. However, examining McDonald's internationalization and development abroad suggests that McDonald's and the others of its ilk are sources of development for mid-range countries. McDonald's brings training in management, encourages entrepreneurship directly through franchises and indirectly through demonstration effects, creates backward linkages that develop local suppliers, fosters exports by their suppliers, and has positive external effects on productivity and standards of service, cleanliness, and quality in the host economies.

scholarly journals Restaurant Policies and Practices Related to Norovirus Outbreak Size and Duration

2020 ◽  
Vol 83 (9) ◽  
pp. 1607-1618
Author(s):  
E. RICKAMER HOOVER ◽  
NICOLE HEDEEN ◽  
AMY FREELAND ◽  
ANITA KAMBHAMPATI ◽  
DANIEL DEWEY-MATTIA ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
The United States ◽  
Safety Training ◽  
Foodborne Illness ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Safety Certification ◽  
Food Safety Training ◽  
Outbreak Size ◽  
Policies And Practices

ABSTRACT Norovirus is the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, and restaurants are the most common setting of foodborne norovirus outbreaks. Therefore, prevention and control of restaurant-related foodborne norovirus outbreaks is critical to lowering the burden of foodborne illness in the United States. Data for 124 norovirus outbreaks and outbreak restaurants were obtained from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveillance systems and analyzed to identify relationships between restaurant characteristics and outbreak size and duration. Findings showed that restaurant characteristics, policies, and practices were linked with both outbreak size and outbreak duration. Compared with their counterparts, restaurants that had smaller outbreaks had the following characteristics: managers received food safety certification, managers and workers received food safety training, food workers wore gloves, and restaurants had cleaning policies. In addition, restaurants that provided food safety training to managers, served food items requiring less complex food preparation, and had fewer managers had shorter outbreaks compared with their counterparts. These findings suggest that restaurant characteristics play a role in norovirus outbreak prevention and intervention; therefore, implementing food safety training, policies, and practices likely reduces norovirus transmission, leading to smaller or shorter outbreaks. HIGHLIGHTS

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