Foodborne Illness and the Restaurant Industry
Posted by Emilee | Posted in Food Safety, Foodborne Illness, In the News | Posted on 17-03-2010
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A recent Harris Polls sites that 42% of Americans say they have become sick from something they ate and 69% of those believe they know what made them sick. They may not be correct, but perception matters–and could be potentially harmful to the food establishment or distributor that sold the food item. Interestingly, 29% of those who believe they know what made them sick, have removed that food item entirely from their diet. More than half of those advised others not to eat the item as well.
These numbers make it clear that when consumers become ill from what they believe to be foodborne illness, it can hurt your business. It’s an issue to which everyone can relate, and people are finally starting stand up and take notice. After last week’s shocking report that the United States spends $152 billion annually on foodborne illness, some very influential people in the restaurant industry began discussing some ideas on how to move forward.
National chain restaurants understand that too often, food code regulations can change from state-to-state and city-to-city. It can be impossible to regulate the myriad local laws on a corporate level and yet the need for solid food safety training is more important now than ever. In an age where bad press can be all over the internet in seconds, the restaurant industry depends on solid food handler education of basic food safety principles. Juelene Beck of Juelene Beck and Associates (a restaurant-chain consulting firm) stated, “The biggest issue is still around basic training and more of an understanding by the operations people. Having the servers and the people behind them understand better what the food-safety issues are is where the biggest steps can be made in food safety.”
Many health departments are grateful for the StateFoodSafety.com™ Online Food Handler Training Course because it is fully customizable to add local laws and regulations seamlessly into the course content. Online training allows managers to ensure high-quality training with each employee–and the training can be done from the comfort of home. Juelene Beck continues saying, “I have a problem with the business model that says we can’t afford to train people because of high turnover. It’s so easy to mishandle food. They need to train everybody who handles food. Period.” With more and more health departments approving online training, Ms. Beck’s wish is becoming easier for the food manager to grant. Employees can be trained quickly and inexpensively online, increasing the number of trained staff in establishments across the nation.
Experts agree that change needs to be made, and most believe that better educated food handlers will increase consumer satisfaction and decrease the numbers of those who become ill. If your health department or food establishment would like to move their food safety training online, please contact us and we will be happy to work with you to ensure this critical matter receives the attention it deserves!







