Assessment of foodservice managers' awareness of food tampering hazards and evaluation of a food tampering risk reduction program for managers of foodservice facilities

Graduation date: 1993Food tampering in foodservice facilities, especially\ud with self-serve foods, can result in consumer illness or\ud injury and adversely affect the foodservice organization.\ud This study explored foodservice managers' awareness and\ud perceptions of risk and evaluated a Hazard Analysis Critical\ud Control Point (HACCP)-based program of food tampering hazard\ud reduction developed for managers.\ud The study had two phases, descriptive and experimental.\ud The purpose of phase one was to determine food tampering\ud awareness and opinions, to obtain descriptive information\ud about foodservice managers and their facilities, and to\ud identify the population for phase two. The purpose of phase\ud two was to evaluate an educational workbook, which had been\ud developed by the researcher, using a post-test for the\ud experimental and control samples. One thousand foodservice\ud managers in commercial and non-commercial foodservices were contacted by mailed questionnaires in phase one; 376 continued on to phase two, one-half received both a food\ud tampering risk reduction self-instructional workbook and a\ud post-test; 238 completed the study.\ud The post-test included a food tampering hazard\ud inspection form used to evaluate facilities. The managers'\ud changes in opinions and actions to reduce food tampering\ud hazards and their understanding of a HACCP-based program\ud were identified and comparisons made through chi square\ud analyses. More non-commercial foodservice managers than\ud commercial managers had college degrees, but there was no\ud significant association between education level and food\ud tampering concern. Managers with self-serve foods reported\ud greater concern than those without; managers aware of food\ud tampering reported greater concern. Managers who had\ud received the self-instructional workbook had greater ability\ud to identify food tampering hazards through floor plan\ud evaluation. No significant changes in food tampering\ud concern or intent to take action to reduce risk were found\ud after the post-test. However, increased awareness led to a\ud trend of increased concern. It was concluded that the\ud questionnaire and post-test both had educational effects on\ud the participants.\ud The workbook and the inspection form are suggested as\ud an educational program to increase awareness and concern for\ud food tampering and the intent to reduce food tampering\ud hazards by foodservice managers