Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the common certification training methods utilized in Illinois and how this training relates to food safety knowledge.
Methods: Certified managers (n = 460) from 279 participating restaurants in Chicago and surrounding Suburbs (Suburban Cook, Kane, Lake and DuPage Counties) were interviewed with a food safety knowledge survey. Managers self-reported whether their certification training course was provided by a local health department, restaurant/corporation, ServSafe, college/university, other or unknown. We used a multivariate mixed-effects regression analysis to examine the relationship between certification training type and overall food safety knowledge score.
Results: The mean food safety knowledge score among the certified managers was 79.5% (35 correct of 44 questions). Seventy-six percent (350) were unable to correctly provide the temperature range of the danger zone. Twenty-two percent (102) of the managers were certified by a restaurant/corporation, 20% (90) by a college/university, 18% (83) by a health department, 9% (43) directly through the ServSafe program, and 21% (142) by an ‘other’ or unknown program. By training program, knowledge scores ranged from 77% for those who did not know their training program to 84% for ServSafe. While controlling for other factors, managers with ServSafe training scored significantly higher than those reporting health department, restaurant/corporation or unknown training (P = 0.05, P = 0.03 and P = 0.003, respectively).
Significance: These data suggest that some food safety certification programs in Illinois may be more effective than others in educating food managers. However, these are observational data and not derived from a comparative randomized trial. Certified managers did not score very high overall on the knowledge survey although they are often oversee food safety for restaurants which may present a public health risk.