Chapter 21 Foodservice Sanitation
In the United States, there are over
710,000 foodservice establishments, employ-
ing approximately 10 million people.These
operations range from mobile restaurant
stands to large industrial cafeterias and
multiunit fast food chains to plush restau-
rants.Consumers now spend approximately
43% of their food budgets on meals outside
the home.As the foodservice industry has
grown, methods of food production, pro-
cessing, distribution, and preparation have
changed.The major changes have included
increased prepackaged food as partially or
fully prepared bulk or pre-portioned serv-
ings and centralized food production.
As food production, handling, and prepa-
ration techniques and eating habits change,
one fact remains: Food is a source for
microorganisms that can cause illness.Food
handlers can act as vectors of disease and
cross-contamination.As handling and mod-
ern processing methods increase the journey
from the production area to the table, oppor-
tunities for food to be contaminated with
microorganisms become a public health con-
cern.During the second half of the past
decade, 2,397 outbreaks of foodborne ill-
nesses occurred.Over 90% of the cases orig-
inated from bacteria that cause foodborne
illness.Food was the source of 58% of the
foodborne illnesses, and 58% of the food-
borne illness outbreaks were from food
served in restaurants.The economic cost of
these outbreaks has been estimated at $1 bil-
lion to $10 billion.The relative risk of food-
service-related illness is 1 in 9,000, or 5
million illnesses from the 45 billion meals
served in a year.This problem is com-
pounded by a growing number ofcentralized
kitchens.Mass feeding operations increase
the number of people who may be affected
by any contamination.Thus, the challenge of
protecting food from contamination is made
more complicated and critical.
The primary goal of a foodservice sanita-
tion program is to protect the consumer
from contamination and to reduce the effect
ofcontamination that does occur.It is diffi-
cult to protect food from all contamination
because pathogenic microorganisms are
found in so many locations and on approxi-
mately 50% of the people who handle food.Sanitary design
Maintaining proper sanitation standards
in an improperly designed foodservice facil-
ity is difficult.Time and energy are wasted,
and the task becomes difficult and frustrat-
ing.This can cause a worker to settle for
something less than the desired result.371