Restaurant inspection frequency: The RestoFreq Study.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Food Safety Research
• Regulatory Compliance

Background:

• Foodborne illness poses significant public health and economic burdens in Canada.
• Restaurant food safety is crucial for preventing illness and reducing healthcare costs.
• Identifying effective strategies to improve restaurant food safety is a public health priority.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate if increasing routine restaurant inspections from annually to twice-yearly improves food safety compliance.
• To assess the impact of inspection frequency on critical food safety hazards in high-risk restaurants.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial compared annual versus twice-yearly inspections in high-risk restaurants.
• The study included 73 restaurants in the twice-yearly inspection group and 78 in the annual inspection group.
• Key metrics included the average number of critical hazards and the proportion of elevated-risk inspection ratings.

Main Results:

• Both inspection frequencies showed statistically significant improvements in food safety over time (61% decrease in critical hazards, 45% decrease in elevated-risk ratings).
• No significant differences in food safety measures were observed between the twice-yearly and annual inspection groups.
• Improvements in food safety occurred regardless of the inspection frequency.

Conclusions:

• Increasing routine restaurant inspections to twice-yearly is not associated with improved food safety compliance in high-risk establishments.
• Current findings do not support increasing inspection frequency from annual to twice-yearly for restaurants.
• Focus may need to shift to other factors influencing restaurant food safety beyond inspection frequency.