What: Free Webinar
Where: Online
When: On Demand Until May 21, 2021

Breaking the Chain of Disease Transmission in Restaurants

Each year, restaurants are cited as the most commonly implicated location associated with foodborne disease outbreaks, according to a report published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that summarizes domestic foodborne disease outbreaks based on data collected by state, local, and territorial health departments.

A viral infection is difficult to control—it comes into a restaurant via employees, is persistent (can survive on surfaces for weeks), is highly contagious to customers via cross-contamination of food, and is highly contagious to other employees, even in very small amounts. Now, restaurants must also control a different virus (pandemic coronavirus) that is not a foodborne pathogen but is persistent on surfaces and highly contagious to employees and customers.  

The two most critical methods of prevention for viral diseases in restaurants are the same: reduce the risk of employees working when sick and ensure virus mitigation using personal hygiene and environmental contamination controls (for when employees with asymptomatic illness work).

This webinar will discuss how to reduce the risk of viral transmission in a restaurant.

Attendees will learn how to:

• Screen employees for signs and symptoms of viral infection (via employee wellness checks), properly exclude employees, and determine when employees can return to work.
• Ensure personal hygiene controls are in place as part of your virus mitigation program.
• Identify the norovirus and pandemic coronavirus high-touch points in a restaurant most likely to be involved in the transmission of these viruses.
• Use a cleaning and sanitation/disinfection management system as part of your virus mitigation program.

Presenter

Dr. Hal King is the president of Public Health Innovations, an ideation and consulting business, and partner in Active Food Safety, a digital food safety management technology company. Hal is a public health professional who has worked in the investigation of foodborne and other disease outbreaks at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U. S. Public Health Service, performed funded research on causation of diseases at Emory University School of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, and worked in the prevention of intentional adulteration of foods at the U.S. Army Reserves Consequence Management Unit. He is the former director of food and product safety at Chick-fil-A Inc. where he designed and led the company’s food safety management program. Dr. King is past chairman of the National Restaurant Association Quality Assurance Executive Study Group, past board member of the National Council of Chain Restaurants and the FDA and CDC Industry Partnerships, and past president of the Georgia Association for Food Protection. Hal has authored several food safety articles and book chapters, including numerous peer-reviewed research publications on the science of food safety and public health, and holds several U.S. Patents and Patent Pending technologies, Copyrights, and Trademarks. He is the recipient of the 2018 NSF International Food Safety Leadership and Innovation Award.

Moderator

Barbara VanRenterghem Ph.D., Editorial Director, Food Safety Magazine

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