Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a better understanding of the relationship between food safety certification and food safety knowledge. We also wished to develop a better understanding of the relationship between certification provider (accredited vs. non-accredited) and certification validity (certification is current vs. certification is expired) and food safety knowledge.
Methods: This study was conducted by the Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net), a collaborative forum of federal, state, and local environmental health specialists working to better understand the environmental causes of foodborne illness. EHS-Net environmental health specialists collected data in 399 randomly selected restaurants. The EHS-Net specialists interviewed the managers in these restaurants about their food safety certification. The managers also took a 10-item food safety quiz.
Results: Managers who had never been certified had higher odds of failing the food safety quiz (failing equals a score of < 80) than did managers who had been certified (OR = 2.41 [1.45-3.99], P < .001). Managers who had been certified, but not by an accredited organization, had higher odds of failing the quiz than did managers who had been certified by an accredited organization (OR = 3.38 [1.93-5.92], P < .0001). Managers whose certification was not valid did not have higher odds of failing the quiz than did managers whose certification was valid (OR = 0.71 [0.33-1.56], P < 0.40.
Significance: Our data suggest that food safety certification is related to food safety knowledge. They also suggest that receiving certification from an accredited organization is important, while maintaining a valid certificate may not be. Additional analysis is needed to explore the relationships among certification status, certification provider, and certification validity.