The catering industry is considered to be one of the largest sectors of the food industry, with an estimated value of over $516.8 billion in 2020. The catering sector is set to grow at a rate of 4.5 percent between 2021 and 2026 and is predicted to reach a value of over $672.9 billion by 2026.¹

However, it is prudent to consider how many food safety incidents occur in the catering industry. This sector is known for being labor heavy, which means that the risk of food safety incidents occurring due to human error increases significantly. The majority of the burden of solving and preventing these food safety incidents from occurring in the first place falls on the food safety professionals working in the sector.