Abstract
Foodborne illness continues to occur at a relatively high rate in the United States. Many experts agree that training foodhandlers on how to keep food safe could help reduce the problem. The purpose of this study was to determine where and how food protection training and certification programs for foodservice personnel had been implemented by the local environmental health jurisdictions in California. A survey was conducted of the directors of all 53 local environmental health agencies in the state responsible for enforcing food protection law. Data were collected on where and how training and certification programs had been implemented by the agencies. The data were tabulated and then analyzed by first, computing the percentage values for each component and then second, organizing a comparative summary of these percentage values so that patterns or trends could be seen. Prior to the research study, a pilot study was performed to gather information on what questions to ask in the survey and on how different training programs compared in their ability to transfer pertinent knowledge. The first part of the pilot study found that the local jurisdictions with educational programs differed in: (1) the type of program (training or certification), (2) program status (required, pilot, or voluntary), (3) program focus (for managers or all foodhandlers), and (4) design of the program (training method, testing requirements, costs to participants, et cetera). The second part of the pilot study found that: (1) training produced a more knowledgeable food service employee than no training, (2) certification produced the highest results, (3) testing and reinforcement positively influenced exam scores, and (4) lecture was the most effective method in transferring knowledge. The research study found that: (1) only seven jurisdictions (13%) had certification programs of which only four were mandatory, (2) 28 jurisdictions (53%) had training programs, all voluntary, (3) the majority of programs were intended for all foodhandlers rather than just for managers (4 of 7 certification, 27 of 29 training), and (4) the primary training method in the state was lecture. Conclusions and recommendations are as follows: (1) certification of foodservice personnel should be mandated throughout the state, (2) for consistency, the state should provide a model training program, (3) the passing of a test should be required after any training, (4) fees for training/certification should be kept to a minimum, (5) programs should be available in Spanish, and (6) self-inspections and/or other types of reinforcement should be made mandatory for all restaurants.