ABSTRACT
Food safety is a concern in the entire food industry, and even more so for individual foodservice operations, whose employees are tasked with serving wholesome, safe food to the consumer. No other issue can have such a devastating economic impact on a foodservice operation as a single foodborne illness outbreak. Despite various food safety educational efforts, foodborne illness remains a challenge in the industry. Food safety training has been established as an effective means to increase knowledge about the topic. However, research has shown that even when employees are trained in food safety, knowledge does not always translate into improved practices on the job. To effectively convert experiences that result in behavior change, researchers and trainers need to have a practical understanding of current behavioral theories and the underlining psychology that draws from the individual’s primary food safety beliefs and situational cues. Therefore, this chapter focuses on discussing the behavior modeling theories that have roots in attentional, retention, reproduction, and motivational processes. Although these models can develop useful persuasive arguments to change food safety beliefs, resulting in behavior change, it is worth noting that empirical experiments related to food safety is still lacking. Thus, future research is discussed.
The foodservice manager has a plethora of responsibility, from human resource management to managing costs, and ensuring the guest has a 176positive experience in your operation. For many of these tasks, managers rely on their employees to ensure that they are completed and done correctly. Perhaps the single greatest challenge of a foodservice operator is to ensure that food served to the guest is wholesome and safe. No other issue within the operation can have as much of an impact on the business and revenue generated than a single foodborne illness outbreak.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2016a) estimates that one in every six Americans will fall ill from a foodborne illness each year. Among these, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3000 will die. The cost to an individual operator for a foodborne outbreak is difficult to quantify. Buzby et al. (2001) noted that jury verdicts from 1988 to 1997 ranged from $2256 to greater than $2 million, with a median award of $25,560 (equivalent to $37,858 in 2016). However, these costs do not include the legal fees incurred by the restaurateur to defend themselves in the lawsuit, the increased cost of insurance premiums, nor the negative media exposure and lost business. Often, the increased financial burden of a foodborne outbreak forces the operation to close (Cochran-Yantis et al., 1996).
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foodborne (2016b) Outbreak Online Database, there were 656 outbreaks involving foodservice operations in 2015. Of these outbreaks, 9555 individuals were sickened, resulting in 432 individuals who required hospitalization and one death. Thirteen of these outbreaks involved 100 or more victims, resulting in 1949 illnesses, 136 requiring hospitalizations.
Consumers are increasingly aware of foodborne illnesses and proper food handling. Moreover, with the emerging risks and issues related to food safety, widespread attention has been focused on the food industry and regulators (Belasco, 2014; Lofstedt, 2013). In 2016, consumers will spend almost $0.46 of every dollar in a foodservice or other retail operation (US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, 2016). Dining out or purchasing food-to-go has become a common part of life for every American. The increased role that restaurants play in the everyday lives of all Americans, coupled with media coverage of foodborne outbreaks and the influence of social media, has increased consumer awareness of foodborne illness and proper food handling.
Worsfold (2006) noted that 99% of respondents in a survey indicated that hygiene standards were either “very important” or “important” to them when deciding where to dine. In a more recent study, 98% of customers surveyed considered employee hygiene as very important or important 177consideration when dining at fast-casual restaurants (Trendsource, 2016). Worsfold (2006) noted that employee hygienic practices were found to be more important than the type of food, service, location, and price. The Trendsource Report (2016) noted that 39% of consumers indicate that they would not return to a quick-service operation if it were involved in a foodborne outbreak; 42% reported they would complain on social media if they observed food safety concerns in a restaurant. Only 72% of the public stated that the restaurant industry would be able to protect consumers from foodborne illness, which represented a dramatic increase from the 2007 level of 43% (Food Marketing Institute Research, 2007, 2015). While currently at 72%, given the amount of meals served in restaurant establishments, there is considerable room for improvement in the confidence of the public in the ability of those in the restaurant industry to protect consumers.
Food safety training has been established as an effective means to increase knowledge about the topic. However, the preponderance of research has shown that even when employees are trained in food safety, that knowledge does not always translate into improved practices on the job. Food safety training involves teaching employees the details of tasks or duties assigned to them. Food safety training has evolved in both scope and the amount of money invested by the government and industry (Blume et al., 2010; Riggins et al., 2005; Sivaramalingam et al., 2015). However, sending employees to a training program does not guarantee they will apply what they learned in their actual work (Howells et al., 2008; Roberts et al., 2008).
When the effectiveness of a sanitation training course on sanitation evaluations after the sanitation course was completed, Casey and Cook (1979) discovered that food safety exam scores were not a significant predictor of postexam sanitation scores. Wright and Feun (1986) evaluated inspection scores after a foodservice manager certification exam. While they found that there was a significant increase in attitudes about regulations and inspectors, no significant improvements in knowledge were noted. Similar results were noted by Mathias et al. (1995) and Powell et al. (1997).
Roberts et al. (2008) explored food safety knowledge and practices among independent and chain restaurant operations. When comparing composite scores of cross-contamination, time and temperature abuse, and use of thermometers, only knowledge increased significantly for 178handwashing. Observational data revealed that only the incompliance percentage for handwashing behavior increased significantly between pre- and posttraining behavior.
The simple fact remains that training courses are usually short in duration and the information is only utilized if the employee understands the information presented and is motivated to use it when they return to the operation (Bryan, 1990). Only those employees who have internalized what they have learned, realize the importance of proper food safety practices, and are encouraged to follow proper practices by their employer will be motivated to implement skills learned from the class on-the-job (Cochran-Yantis et al., 1996).
