A baseline assessment of U.S. Naval food facilities using the Food Code's new risk-based inspection program

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has developed a new method for assessing food safety in retail establishments using a risk factor-based approach for prevention of foodborne illness. The study reported here surveyed facilities in the Navy's San Diego jurisdiction (11 fast-food and 22 full-service facilities) to establish a baseline rate of compliance with FDA risk factor categories. The Navy facility baseline-data compliance rate was compared with FDA baseline data from 1998. Fast-food facilities were less in compliance than they were in the FDA baseline data (59 percent versus 74 percent were in compliance), while full-service establishments were more in compliance than they were in the FDA baseline (73 percent versus 60 percent). The fact that compliance was greater among Navy facility full-service establishments than in the FDA national baseline may be partly due to staffing by military active-duty employees who receive incentives that may encourage compliance. The establishment of this Navy baseline allows comparison with the FDA baseline. Interventions can now be quantified.