Roberts, Kevin R.Barrett, Betsy B.Howells, Amber D.Shanklin, Carol W.Pilling, Valerie K.Brannon, Laura A.2008-05-192008-05-192008-05-19http://hdl.handle.net/2097/806Statistics show that 59% of foodborne illnesses are traced to restaurant operations. Food safety training has been identified as a way to assure public health, yet evidence supporting the effectiveness of training has been inconclusive. A systematic random sample of 31 restaurants in three midwestern states was selected to assess the effect of training on food safety knowledge and behavior. A total of 402 employees (242 pretraining and 160 post-training) participated in this study. Pre and post-training assessments were conducted on knowledge and behavior related to three key food safety practices: cross contamination, poor personal hygiene, and time/temperature abuse. Overall knowledge (P ≥ .05) and compliance with standards of behavior (P ≥ .001) improved significantly between pre- and post-training. When each practice was examined independently, only handwashing knowledge (P ≥ .001) and behavior (P ≥ .001) significantly improved. Results indicated that training can improve knowledge and behaviors, but knowledge alone does not always improve behaviors.Reprinted with permission from Food Protection Trends. Copyright held by the International Association for Food Protection.Food safetyTrainingPersonal hygieneTime/temperature abuseCross contaminationFoodborne illnessesArticle (publisher version)