An assessment of the ability of routine restaurant inspections to predict food-borne outbreaks in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
OBJECTIVE
This study sought to determine the usefulness of restaurant inspections in predicting food-borne outbreaks in Miami-Dade County, Fla.


METHODS
Inspection reports of restaurants with outbreaks in 1995 (cases; n = 51) were compared with those of randomly selected restaurants that had no reported outbreaks (controls; n = 76).


RESULTS
Cases and controls did not differ by overall inspection outcome or mean number of critical violations. Only 1 critical violation--evidence of vermin--was associated with outbreaks (odds ratio = 3.3; 95% confidence interval = 1.1, 13.1).


CONCLUSIONS
Results of restaurant inspections in Miami-Dade County did not predict outbreaks. If these findings are representative of the situation in other jurisdictions, inspection practices may need to be updated.
Cruz
M A
MA
Office of Epidemiology and Disease Control, Miami-Dade County Health Department, Miami, Fla., USA. mgc8@cdc.gov
Katz
D J
DJ
Suarez
J A
JA
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005161:Facility Regulation and Control; D005431:Florida; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012147:Restaurants / Q000592:standards*