Purpose: The objective of this research was to identify which food safety priorities deli managers consider relevant and important to include in specific food safety training programs developed for deli workers. This information may provide the person in charge (PIC) of food safety for delis and food safety instructors in deli operations guidelines for implementing these practices.
Methods: An evaluation matrix consisting of food safety objectives was built based on the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Food Code and four food safety training modules currently available online: the National Restaurant Association’s Educational Foundation’s ServSafe®, FMI’s Super Safe Mark®, Training Achievement Programs®, and Alchemy Systems. In order to solicit participation from a variety of subject experts and to generate accurate and authentic ideas from the experts in the field, a three round modified Delphi technique using Qualtrics software was conducted by 15 experts currently working or managing in retail delis.
Results: The results found that employee safe food handling practices (glove use, avoiding cross-contamination) preventing foodborne illness such as time/temperature control, cross-contamination, cleaning and sanitizing are the most salient objectives as perceived by experts for food safety training in deli industry.
Significance: The findings indicate that trainers and managers need to emphasize specifically employees’ safe food handling practices, time/temperature control, and cross-contamination when purchasing existing food safety training materials or developing new food safety training programs internally.