P1-98 Food Safety Certification Status, Provider, and Validity: How are They Related to Food Safety Knowledge?

Monday, July 29, 2013
Exhibit Hall (Charlotte Convention Center)
Brenda Le, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Laura Brown, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Introduction: Public health agencies are increasingly encouraging or requiring restaurant kitchen manager food safety certification, in which managers receive food safety training and demonstrate knowledge learned from the training by passing a food safety certification exam.

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.