Root Cause Analysis of food establishments with Chronic Non-compliance Challenges (Poster)

Introduction: Government regulation of food service establishments (FSEs) is rooted in a public health mission to prevent outbreaks of food borne illness. It can be argued that the spectrum of food safety compliance levels, in any random sample of FSEs, ranges from chronically deficient to reliably trouble-free. Historically, public health agencies have employed a scheme of random inspection in order to maintain food safety compliance.  It can be inferred that such a system gives equal attention to the best and the worst performers.

Objectives: The objectives are to identify and characterize chronically noncompliant FSEs and conduct systematic field evaluations to ascertain the root causes for barriers to sustained compliance. 

Material and Methods: Thirty FSEs were included in the current pilot study.  These FSEs included in the study were either nominated by the assigned area Environmental Health Investigators (EHIs) or were identified for inclusion through querying inspection history of FSEs.  A systematic evaluation of historical inspection reports was performed and field visits were made by independent EHIs not routinely assigned to the FSEs in the study. A notational analysis form was developed to document those historic and field visits. 

Findings: The majority of FSEs which fall into “chronic non-compliance” list are small, independent, and ethnic food establishments.  Identification of specific barriers to sustained compliance is key to mitigating those barriers.  Specifically targeted intervention components are proposed to result in sustained compliance and risk reduction.