title: An assessment of the ability of routine restaurant inspections to predict food-borne outbreaks in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Office of Epidemiology and Disease Control, Miami-Dade County Health Department, Miami, Fla., USA. mgc8@cdc.gov
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Cruz
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Katz
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Suarez
mesh_terms: 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*