A baseline assessment of U.S. Naval food facilities using the Food Code's new risk-based inspection program.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has developed a new method for assessing food safety in retail establishments using a risk factor-based approach for prevention of foodborne illness. The study reported here surveyed facilities in the Navy's San Diego jurisdiction (11 fast-food and 22 full-service facilities) to establish a baseline rate of compliance with FDA risk factor categories. The Navy facility baseline-data compliance rate was compared with FDA baseline data from 1998. Fast-food facilities were less in compliance than they were in the FDA baseline data (59 percent versus 74 percent were in compliance), while full-service establishments were more in compliance than they were in the FDA baseline (73 percent versus 60 percent). The fact that compliance was greater among Navy facility full-service establishments than in the FDA national baseline may be partly due to staffing by military active-duty employees who receive incentives that may encourage compliance. The establishment of this Navy baseline allows comparison with the FDA baseline. Interventions can now be quantified.
Naval Health Clinic, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD 21403-5050, USA. derek.boyd@med.navy.mil
Derek
D
Boyd
D005506:Food Contamination / Q000517:prevention & control; D005513:Food Inspection / Q000592:standards*; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D016730:Program Development; D012147:Restaurants / Q000592:standards; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014481:United States; D014486:United States Food and Drug Administration / Q000592:standards