Foodservice/Retail

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In celebration of National Food Safety Month (NFSM) 2023, the National Restaurant Association’s ServSafe is providing free training and education content to help the restaurant workforce understand the “why” behind common food safety practices.

The prevalence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Escherichia coli found on retail beef and pork meat samples in the UK is relatively low, according to surveillance conducted by the UK Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we are joined by an FDA official, a county-level environmental health regulator, and a retail food industry association representative to discuss the research and application of behavioral science with food employees and regulatory agencies to reduce foodborne illness risk factors at smaller retail foodservice businesses. 

A recent study exploring the use of a digital technologies for retail food safety inspections in the EU has revealed existing opportunities to improve inspection consistency through digitalization, as well as the barriers that exist to adopting a digital environment.

In 2022, two-thirds of business in England and nine of ten businesses in Northern Ireland and Wales had their food hygiene ratings on visible display, according to an audit by the UK Food Safety Authority (FSA).

With the post-pandemic ramp-up of in-person, global sporting events comes a parallel increase in the number of food safety professionals required to oversee the catering of such events. Event organizers and caterers alike have come to understand the importance of food safety in such large-scale scenarios.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published a report on the occurrence of foodborne illness risk factors in fast food and full-service restaurants from 2017–2018. The study found FSMS to be the strongest predictor of compliance, with well-developed FSMSs associated with fewer out-of-compliance food safety behaviors/practice than those underdeveloped or non-existent FSMS.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) has updated its Best Practices Guidance for Controlling Listeria monocytogenes in Retail Delicatessens.

New uses for existing technologies are being deployed in foodservice establishments to prevent persistent pathogens like Salmonella, and viral pathogens like norovirus and Hepatitis A, on surfaces where continuous sanitation and disinfection is needed. 

Approximately 40 percent of foodborne illness outbreaks associated with retail food establishments during 2017–2019 were caused by an infectious employee, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).