Restaurant and Staff Characteristics Related to Practices that Could Contribute to Cross-Contamination

Foodborne illness is a persistent public health concern in the U.S.; over 800 foodborne illness outbreaks are reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) annually. Most of these outbreaks (60%) are linked with restaurants. Contamination of food with foodborne pathogens during preparation and storage is a significant contributing factor to many of these outbreaks. The CDC's Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net) collected data to identify restaurant characteristics, policies, and practices associated with contamination prevention practices. Data collectors interviewed managers and conducted kitchen observations in 312 restaurants across six EHS-Net sites in five states. Data collectors observed at least one food worker action that could lead to contamination in 63.1% of restaurants. The most frequently observed action that could lead to contamination was bare-hand or dirty glove contact with ready-to-eat food (35.9%). The estimated mean number of observed potential contamination actions was greater in restaurants that were independently owned (does not share a name and operations with other restaurants), did not require managers to be certified in food safety, did not have workers trained in food safety, did not have a handwashing policy, did not have a policy minimizing bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat foods, and had a manager with more than two years of experience at their current restaurant. These results suggest that to improve contamination prevention, the foodservice industry and food safety officials can consider supporting and encouraging strong food safety training and policies, particularly concerning hand hygiene, and targeting interventions to independent restaurants.