title: [Impact of the abolition of food handler certification on notification rates of foodborne diseases in Italy].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to assess the trends of foodborne diseases in respect of the abolition of food handler certification by Italian Regions.
  
  
  METHODS
  rates of foodborne diseases recorded before and after the abolition of food handler certification were compared.
  
  
  METHODS
  the study included notifications collected in Italy through the national infectious disease surveillance system between 1996 and 2009.
  
  
  METHODS
  annual rates of seven main foodborne diseases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  a significant reduction in notifications of foodborne diseases occurred in most Italian Regions in the years after the abolition of the food handler certification.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  the abolition of food handler certification coincided with no increase in the overall estimated incidence of foodborne diseases in the Italian population. Furthermore, the temporal and spatial patterns of notification rates suggest the possibility that other key factors have contributed to this result, including the heterogeneity of the surveillance system performance.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di scienze per la promozione della salute e materno-infantile "G. D'Alessandro", Università di Palermo.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Napoli
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di scienze per la promozione della salute e materno-infantile "G. D'Alessandro", Università di Palermo. emanuele.amodio@unipa.it.
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Amodio
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di scienze per la promozione della salute e materno-infantile "G. D'Alessandro", Università di Palermo.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Costantino
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di scienze per la promozione della salute e materno-infantile "G. D'Alessandro", Università di Palermo.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sciuto
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di scienze per la promozione della salute e materno-infantile "G. D'Alessandro", Università di Palermo.
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mammina
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di scienze per la promozione della salute e materno-infantile "G. D'Alessandro", Università di Palermo.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Calamusa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002568:Certification; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018563:Disease Notification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005511:Food Handling / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D055815:Young Adult