a survey of food hygiene and safety training in the retail ... · mandatory throughout the food...

A survey of foodhygiene and safetytraining in the retailand catering industry

Denise Worsfold andChristopher J Griffith

Introduction

Research carried out between 1998-2000showed that in 100 reported food poisoningoutbreaks the vast majority were attributed toinadequately trained staff (Food SafetyAuthority of Ireland 2001) Howes et al(1996) have suggesting that food handlersrsquomalpractices contributed to 97 per cent offood-borne illness in food serviceestablishments A postal survey ofmanufacturing retail and catering foodbusinesses revealed that less than 10 per centhad failed to provide some food hygienetraining for staff (Mortlock et al 2000) Thisrepresented an improvement on the situationfound by Tebbutt (1992) eight years earlierwhen 22 per cent of businesses had failed totrain managers or operatives in hygiene Thelegal requirement to train staff commensuratewith work activity that is part of the FoodSafety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations1995 would appear to have had a positiveimpact on training provision within theindustry Nethertheless Mortlock et al(2000) still found that there were significantnumbers of part-time and temporary staff(the mainstay of the catering and retail foodindustry) who were untrained Few staff weregiven refresher training The Food StandardAgency (Power 2002) estimate that some 45per cent of food handlers have not yet beentrained and that staff turnover in the cateringsector may be as high as 50-100 per cent on aregular basis

The survey by Mortlock et al (2000)showed that less than one-fifth of themanagers were trained to supervisory level(Level 2) It was suggested that the lack ofappropriate training for senior staff mightmake it difficult for them to design andimplement appropriate hazard analysissystems a legal requirement since 1995 Only31 per cent of managers had receivedHACCP training and this training had notbeen extended to the general workforce Thenew Butchers Licensing Regulations requirethe managers of retail butchery businesses tobe trained to Level 2 to enable them tosupervise formal HACCP systems All high-risk food handling staff in the business mustbe trained to Level 1 (Basic or Foundation)At present HACCP is mandatory only for

The authors

Denise Worsfold is the Training Manager and

Christopher J Griffith is Professor and Head both at

the Food Research Consultancy Unit the University of

Wales Institute Cardiff UK

Keywords

Hygiene Attitudes Retailing Catering Food industryTraining

Abstract

Describes a survey of food safety training for staff in theretail care and catering industry Training provisions wereevaluated against the guidance in the relevant industryguides Additional information was collected on themanagersrsquo perceptions of and attitudes towards hygienetraining The extent and level of training of the retailbutchers who had to comply with the licensingregulations was better than care homes and caterers ofan equivalent size Some of the care homes were notcompliant with the training requirements of the FoodSafety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations There was asimilar lack of hygiene management systems in most ofthe catering businesses in this study but senior staff werebetter trained and were able to provide in-house trainingto greater effect All the businesses carried out on-the-jobtraining although in some this was restricted to inductiontraining the content of which was often ill defined Therewas a lack of documented hygiene proceduresreinforcement strategies and very little refresher trainingactivity Many managers failed to provide feedback onperformance to test hygiene knowledge or praise goodhygienic performance Half of the managers were nottrained to train and often were untrained in elementaryhygiene themselves Some managers recognised thatconditions in the workplace and time pressures couldcontribute to poor hygiene performances

Electronic access

The Emerald Research Register for this journal isavailable athttpwwwemeraldinsightcomresearchregister

The current issue and full text archive of this journal isavailable athttpwwwemeraldinsightcom0034-6659htm

This research was part funded by ELW and theEuropean Social Fund through the KnowledgeExploitation Fund

68

Nutrition amp Food Science

Volume 33 Number 2 2003 pp 68-79

MCB UP Limited ISSN 0034-6659

DOI 10110800346650310466655

retail butchers However current proposalsfor consolidation of the EU Hygiene Directiveare likely to result in HACCP becomingmandatory throughout the food industry TheFood Standard Agency (FSA) proposesaction to increase access to and uptake offormal HACCP training and has set targetsfor the increased adoption of HACCP in thecatering industry

Research undertaken by Guierrier et al(1992) showed that managers and supervisorsfrom the catering industry believe that foodhygiene is significant only when somethinggoes wrong Food hygiene issues includingcleanliness and temperature control of foodwere viewed in terms of aesthetics rather thanfood safety Most managers perceive theirbusinesses to be low risk regardless of thefoods they are handling (Mortlock et al1999) They lack the higher levels of hygienetraining that would enable them to accuratelyassess the risk offered by their business anddetermine appropriate hygiene training fortheir staff

The prevailing attitudes standards andmorale within a business form part of theorganisational culture which has an influenceon the motivation of employees to transfertraining to the workplace Research (Seyleret al 1998 Noe et al 1986) has shown thatenvironmental factors such as supervisorsupport supervisor sanctions peer supportand situational constraints or aids of the jobsetting in which the training will be used havea significant influence on traineesrsquo motivationto transfer training to the workplace

The purpose of this survey was to comparethe provision of food safety and hygiene trainingin retail butchers caterers and care homes andto determine whether the recent legislativechanges have contributed to improvements Italso sought to find out more about theorganisational culture of food businesses asrevealed by managersrsquo perceptions of andattitudes towards hygiene training

The survey

The survey was conducted between May2001 and July 2002 in 66 small or medium-sized independent businesses in South WalesAll the businesses handled raw meat orpoultry and a mixture of ready-to-eat foodsThey represented in equal numbers retailbutchers cafeteriashotels (caterers) and

nursingresidential (care) homes A semi-structured interview with the manager orhead chefcatering manager (hotels) ormatron (nursingresidential homes) wasconducted and information gathered on howeach complied with the training guidanceprovided by the industry guides

The survey covered the number of stafftheir employment status (fullpart-timecasual) the initial training provided thehygiene content of any on-the-job traininghygiene training provision for low and high-risk food handlers supervisors and managersArrangements for refresher training trainingrecords and the evaluation of training werecovered together with the managersrsquoperceptions of the barriers and benefits oftraining Observations were carried outwhere possible on the hygiene practices of thestaff after the interview with the manager andthey were encouraged to provide examples ofrelevant documents for inspection

Each manager was asked to complete aquestionnaire on their perceptions of andattitudes towards hygiene training and the in-house training activities undertaken in thebusiness This was developed afterconducting six interviews with two managersin each of the three sectors Participants wereasked to register their agreement or otherwisewith 48 statements that covered generalaspects of food safety perceptions of foodhygiene qualifications and trainerssupporting activities they provided in theirbusinesses and their role as hygiene trainers

Results

Most of the businesses in this survey could bedescribed as rsquorsquomicro businessesrsquorsquo because theyemploy less than ten members of staff Thehomes and caterers employed on averagemore than twice the number of staff thanretail butchers and both relied heavily onpart-time employees Homes employed morepart-time staff than full-timers (Figure 1)

Initial training

More homes and caterers than butchersclaimed to provide a basic level of hygieneawareness before food handlers started workThey also provided more induction trainingthan butchers (Figure 2)

69

A survey of food hygiene and safety training

Denise Worsfold and Christopher J Griffith


Volume 33 Number 2 2003 68-79

The majority of businesses (77 per cent)identified personal hygiene and personalhealth as topics covered by the induction-training programme Butchers and caterersprovided further training or hygieneawareness on stock rotation food storage andcross-contamination Few homes (9 per cent)claimed to provide additional hygieneawareness to care assistants involved in theservice and preparation of food for residents

The retail butchers had a higher percentageof staff trained in hygiene to Level 1(Foundation or Basic) (Figure 3)

Nearly 40 per cent of retail butchers hadprovided basic hygiene training to all theirstaff Part-time staff particularly careassistants in homes were the most likely notto have received formal training

The vast majority (86 per cent) of butcheryand catering managers (84 per cent) held aLevel 1 qualification but only 50 per cent ofthe home managers were qualified to this

level Home managers were frequentlyqualified in nursing

All of the butchers claimed to have trained

staff to monitor and record temperaturesThis included the monitoring of equipmentand cooking and cooling temperaturesKitchen staff in homes were also instructed intemperature monitoring of appliances and

end-of-cooking temperatures but this trainingdid not usually extend to care staff involved infood preparation in the absence of the cook

Very little refresher training was carried outby the businesses in this survey (Figure 3)

Supervisorymanagerial training

More than 70 per cent of the butchery

managers had received Level 2 training at thetime of the survey and the reminder weretrained to this level by the end of July 2001This was necessary to comply with the

Figure 1 Mean number of staff

Figure 2 Initial hygiene training

70





training requirements of the licensingregulations The majority had attendedcourses run by the local authorities or thelocal colleges that were judged by theenforcement officers to be at an appropriatesupervisory level Three butchery managers(14 per cent) had attended full intermediate(Level 2) accredited courses and a singlebutcher (4 per cent) had a hygienequalification at advanced level Supervisoryhygiene qualifications were held by 45 percent of catering businesses with fivemanagers qualified to advanced level (22 percent) Only 22 per cent of managers in homesheld a higher hygiene qualification and asingle manager (4 per cent) was qualified atadvanced level

Twice as many butchers as caterers orhomes claimed to provide HACCP trainingfor all the staff and all the butchers surveyedhad at least one member of staff trained tosupervise the HACCP system Nearly half(48 per cent) of the butchers had one or moremembers of staff trained to supervisory levelwho could oversee the system in the absenceof the manager The courses which thebutchers had undertaken to acquire theirsupervisory qualification are shown inFigure 4 More catering managers orsupervisors had undertaken full-lengthaccredited hygiene courses at Levels 2 or 3than care or butchery managers (Figure 5)

Less than half of the businesses recordedtheir training and few had a training planLarger caterers were more likely than theothers to have a training plan (36 per cent)(Figure 6)

Perceptions of and attitudes towardstraining

From the 66 businesses 50 questionnaireswere returned and analysed Most managersthought that the hygiene standards in theirbusiness were higher now than before Manybelieved that good food hygiene behaviourwas common sense and only a minority (20per cent) thought that there was adisproportionate concern about issues of foodsafety (Figure 7)

The managers appeared to hold formalhygiene training in high regard believing thatstaff had a better attitude to food hygiene afterattendance on a course and demonstratedimproved hygiene performance They weregenerally confident of the trainersrsquo ability tocommunicate relevant information andrecognised that they were not primarilyconcerned with just tutoring trainees to passexaminations About one third howeverthought that the effect of the course wasshort-lived (Figure 8)

On-the-job training

Virtually all the businesses provided someform of training on-the-job although in somethis was restricted to induction training Allmanagers claimed that their staff knew thehygiene standards that were expected fromthem and that they expected their ownhygiene behaviour to set the example for staffMost alleged that they regularly monitoredhygiene behaviour and criticised whennecessary incidents of unsatisfactory hygienic

Figure 3 Basic and refresher training

71





Figure 4 HACCP training courses undertaken by butchers

Figure 5 Higher hygiene training

Figure 6 Training records

72





performance Despite managers claiming

their existence there was little evidence ofwritten performance standards 30 per cent

admitted failing to provide feedback onperformance one third failed to test or check

hygiene knowledge regularly and only halfsaid they would reward or praise good

hygienic performance Most managers

claimed to retrain staff if necessary and

claimed sufficient confidence and knowledge

to train their staff in elementary hygiene But

half of the managers were not trained to train

and frequently they were untrained in

elementary hygiene themselves (Figure 9)Although they claimed to reinforce training

with posters and notices there was little

Figure 7 Managersrsquo attitudes to training and food safety

Figure 8 Managersrsquo attitudes to food hygiene qualifications and trainers

73





evidence of these at the premises About one

third of managers believed that the working

environment might prevent the consistent use

of the highest standards of food hygiene and

half believed that lack of time might be a

contributory factor to poor hygiene

performance On-the-job hygiene training

was generally unstructured and not recorded

Although butchery managers were trained to

supervisory level they often lacked confidence

in explaining the rationale for a hygiene

procedure (Figure 10)

Refresher training

Training was generally seen as a one-offactivity and in most of the businessesrefresher training was neither planned norimplemented Managers were confused aboutthe rsquorsquo shelf lifersquorsquo of a basic food hygienecertificate and unaware of update trainingcourses Many managers claimed to reviewtraining needs on a regular basis that auditingthe hygiene management system would revealany training deficits and that training hadbeen focused on critical control points There

Figure 9 In-house training

Figure 10 Employersrsquo activities that support training

74





was little evidence to substantiate theseclaims Training needs did not appear to bedetermined by an assessment of risk or byreference to formal performance standardsThe stimulus for seeking refresher trainer wasusually the recommendation made by theenforcement authority Few of the businessesheld regular refresher training in-house andthis training was generally not documented

Discussion

Some countries such as AustraliaNew Zealand Canada the USA and Irelandhave published standards for training andback them with direct or accredited trainingprovision Many EU countries have given theresponsibility of interpreting the regulationsto the enforcers who then are responsible foradvising industry and assessing compliancewith legislation The UK on the other handhas adopted the consensus approach byencouraging the use of voluntary industryguides

The training standard prescribed by theFood Safety Authority for Ireland (2001)identifies the food safety skills that must bedemonstrated by the employees the timescales for implementation and identifiesdesirable employersrsquo supporting activities Itprovides detailed direction to employers andencourages them to get involved in theprovision of training for staff The trainingdoes not have to be certified but is assessed byenforcement officers for compliance with thestandard on routine inspections

The UK industry guides are lessprescriptive They provide guidance on howbusinesses can meet their legal requirementsto traininstruct staff in food hygiene by givinga general outline of appropriate hygiene topicsthat should be included for differentcategories of food handlers The retail andcatering guides have been in production for anumber of years but the butchery supplementto the retail guide is relatively recent (2001)Only about a third of the businesses in thisstudy were aware of the relevant guideManagers or supervisors had usually beenintroduced to the guides when attendingsupervisory training courses Few of thebusinesses thought that the enforcementofficers had made them aware of the guides

Initial training

The industry guides advise that a basic level ofhygiene awareness must be provided for allfood handlers before they start workCompliance could be achieved by onlyengaging staff qualified in food hygiene or byensuring that the rsquorsquoessentials of food hygienersquorsquoare given before new staff begin work Amajority of businesses appeared to cover thisduring the induction-training programmeVirtually all the caterers and homes claimed toprovide induction training although thearrangements for delivering and recording thisvaried widely Butchers were less likely thanhomes or caterers to provide induction trainingand what was provided appeared to be largelyunstructured informal and conducted on-the-job Information on personal hygiene rules anddress code was usually provided but thereappeared to be some reluctanceresistance tocover the issue of personal health Morebutchers are using written hygiene rules signedby staff since the licensing regulations cameinto effect but they were poor at recording stafftraining Caterers were more likely thanbutchers or care homes to do this and toprovide a structured training session withwritten support materials conducted by atrainer or senior member of staff The staffresources for training in catering businesseswere greater than butchers with training beingdelegated to section heads or a trainer from thepersonnel department Induction training wassometimes conducted in the kitchen but morefrequently in the catering managerrsquos office Thehomes often with large numbers of part-timecarers involved in the service of food to clientsusually had the least satisfactory arrangementsfor induction training While the coveragewould appear to be equivalent to caterers thecontent and delivery of induction training wasjudged to be inferior Unless the staff werespecifically allocated to the kitchen when theybecame the responsibility of the cookinduction training was usually given by thematron Only half of these had receivedtraining in hygiene themselves ndash unlike themajority of their counterparts in catering orretail butchery The clients in homes are elderlyand often frail and therefore more likely thanothers to suffer severely if they contract foodpoisoning together with the reality that foodhandling care assistants may be involved in theprovision of intimate personal services such astoileting bathing or wound dressing It is

75





therefore of concern that the content anddelivery of induction training appeared to begiven low importance in many homes Inaccordance with the catering industry guidepart-time care assistants whose food handlingduties are restricted to food service shouldthen be given hygiene awareness training withineight weeks To a large extent this was notimplemented in homes The hygieneinstruction given on induction was often allthat was provided ndash although a minority ofhomes had put all care assistants on foundationfood hygiene courses The problems of staffretention appear to be particularly acute in carehomes with many owners reluctant to invest intraining until confident of staff loyalty

Basic hygiene training

The butchers had a greater proportion of theirstaff qualified in basic food hygiene comparedwith homes and caterers Mortlock et al(2000) had previously found that retailerswere less likely than caterers or manufacturersto send full-time staff on food hygienecourses Many of the butchers in the presentsurvey had been trained within the last yearsuggesting that the need for legal compliancehas provided the impetus for the trainingintervention All formal training had beenundertaken by external training providersSome caterers but no care homes were ableto provide this level of training in-houseFormal training was less likely to be providedfor part-timers who were more likely toremain untrained at this level or be given alower level of hygiene awareness on the job bysupervisors or managers Chartered Instituteof Environmental Health (CIEH) figuresindicate that some 5 million staff havereceived certified hygiene training over thelast ten years CIEH just one of the awardingbodies awards 300000 basicfoundationscertificates a year When HACCP becomesmandatory for all food businesses the FSAbelieves that a key element will be adequatetraining of staff in food hygiene practice Theagency is evaluating current training and ishaving discussions with training providers inorder to find ways in which training can bemade more relevant to practice The agencylaunched a major food hygiene campaignaimed at caterers in the autumn of 2002


Supervisory training was more prevalent inretail butchers than caterers or homesMortlock et al (2000) and Eheri et al (1997)had previously found lower levels ofsupervisory managerial training in the retailsector compared with catering or foodmanufacture The extent of higher training inthe catering sector was less than found byMortlock et al (2000) These results mayhave been influenced by the small surveysample and in addition the postal survey didnot specifically target residentialnursinghomes although they may have been includedin the catering business category

Although more than half of all the managersin the study believed it to be more importantto secure higher training for supervisors thanformal basic hygiene training for operativesthere were many barriers to achieving thisLack of time lack of staff and the cost andavailability of suitable training courses weresome of the factors mentioned as deterrents totraining at this level The necessity to complywith legislation in the case of the butchersappears to have overridden these barriers

Butchers had a better training in thesupervision of a HACCP system of foodhygiene management than caterers or homesIn Wales most of this training had beenprovided directly by the local authorities orwas contracted out to independent trainersAs shown in the results nearly half of theretail butchers had staff trained to supervisorylevel who could oversee the system in theabsence of the manager This level of trainingin the retail trade is much higher thanMortlock et al (2000) found in the postalsurvey but his sample was not restricted tobutchers and was conducted prior to theintroduction of the licensing regulations TheHACCP training had been delivered well inadvance (at least 12 months) of the licensingrequirements and had been reinforced byenvironmental health officers on subsequentvisits to the shops The butchers appeared tobe adequately equipped to supervise theirHACCP systems although some lackedmicrobiological expertise There has beensome criticism of the HACCP training ofbutchers in England (Walker and Jones2002) that was delivered by the MeatLivestock Commission (MLC) Oneprofessional butcher Cavendish (2001)observes that as a result of the MLC training

76





and consultancy the hazard awareness levelof butchers in general has been raised to alevel not common previously Cavendishbelieves that todayrsquo s butchers are the firstgeneration of rsquorsquoHACCP butchersrsquorsquo and thatHACCP procedures will soon become part ofthe normal routine of retail butchersrsquo shopsand will not be viewed as too onerous a taskHe believes that all the trainingimplementation monitoring and recordinghas resulted in safer food for his customersand wants customer awareness of this raisedThe MLC training initiative is currently beingevaluated by the FSA It is also reviewing theHACCP training courses that are availableand the availability and qualification ofHACCP trainers It is working with theLearning and Skills Council to aid access toappropriate HACCP training and hygienetraining on a large scale

Care homes are inspected by Social Servicesor the Health Authority in addition to the localauthority environmental health departmentThe managers of care homes were aware thattheir businesses must be regarded as high riskbecause of their vulnerable elderly clients butthey were generally less aware than butcherymanagers of risk-based issues had inferiorsystems of hygiene management andimplemented less training The minority ofthose care home managers who had beentrained to a higher level had usually acted onthe recommendation of the local authorityHowever local authorities can onlyrecommend not require higher training forthis sector and many appear not to have heededthis advice Care home managers generally hada very limited understanding of hazard analysisoften restricted to temperature monitoring ofrefrigerators and the recording of end ofcooking temperatures It is to be hoped thatthis sector is given priority in the FSA HACCPtraining initiatives Training courses forinspection officers from Social Services andHealth Departments should be provided toenable them to assess the HACCP systems incare homes

Observations

While the extent and level of hygiene trainingin the retail butchers were generally superiorto homes and caterers this might not havebeen reflected in a greater awareness ofhygiene issues and an improvement of

hygiene standards The retail butchers werethe most willing to allow the researcher toobserve working practices and usuallyprovided relevant records such as temperaturelogs delivery checks supplier lists HACCPplans Most of the observed activities of thebutchers appeared satisfactory There weresome examples of lapses such as the failure toreturn meat from the slicer to the refrigerateddisplay the storage of bags in areas open tocontamination the failure to checktemperature of ready-to-eat deliveries and thefailure to maintain a cleaning record Otherstudies (Worsfold and Griffith 2001 Walkerand Jones 2002) have found that a lack ofappropriate cleaning and disinfection routineswas not uncommon but in this sample ofbutchers the use of recommended cleaningchemicals methods and materials was thenorm Inadequate separation of cooked andraw foods during processing was also found in30 per cent of butchery premises audited byWalker and Jones (2002) but was not evidentin the butchery premises in this survey All ofthese butchers had been inspected by the localauthorities within the period of theinvestigation and were about to or hadrecently renewed their licence Despite thecontraventions of existing hygiene legislationobserved in the butchery premises in theirsurvey Walker and Jones (2002) concludedthat licensing had led to a clear improvementin food hygiene standards The authors foundthat licensed premises had a bettercomprehension of food safety issues wereable to identify hazards and understood howhygiene controls worked and were able toimplement them in their businesses In asubsequent comparative study (Walker andJones 2002) of catering premises with andwithout documented HACCP systems theauthors found that those with thedocumented systems had better standards ofhygiene during the processes of preparationand cooking

Insufficient observations of hygienepractices were made in homes and caterers todraw conclusions about the standards ofhygiene compared with the retail butchersThe residential homes were the mostreluctant to allow any inspection of activitiesin the kitchen or food service Rarely wererecords offered for inspection There was lessreluctance to be observed on the part of thecaterers but often visits were scheduled (at the

77





managerrsquos request) for rest periods Caterersprovided little documentation for inspection

Organisational culture

Culture is formed from the collection oftraditions values policies belief and attitudesthat prevail throughout the business Tebbutt(1992) states that attitudes of managers arersquorsquoan important determinant in overall trainingstandardsrsquorsquo and Griffith (2000) suggests thatmanagers have an important role in setting anappropriate culture within the workenvironment and facilitating conditions forbehavioural change The majority ofmanagers in this survey had positive attitudesto food safety to food safety training andrecognised their legal responsibilities Thisagrees with the work of Coleman et al (2000)who found that catering managers believedthat compliance with the legislation madethem feel more confident about food safetyand gave positive responses to the need fortraining for managers and staff The caterersbelieved that they were taking a moreproactive approach to food safety than fiveyears ago which accords with the view of themanagers in the present study who thoughtthat the hygiene standards in their businesswere higher now than before Unlike some ofthe managers in the present study thecaterers did not see lack of time as a barrier toimplementing hygiene requirementsColeman et al (2000) found that somecaterers appeared to show attitudinalambivalence having difficulty transferringtheir general positive attitude to specificoperational food handling procedures Forexample while good hygiene may be valuedthey may feel specific practices are too timeconsuming or inconvenient and the desire toserve customers quickly or save money maybe more highly valued The managers in thissurvey recognised that they served as rolemodels to their staff in terms of food hygienebehaviour and were confident that their staffknew what was expected from them butmany admitted to a lack of performancestandards or reinforcement strategies Someagreed that difficult physical and socialconditions in the workplace might make itdifficult to always exercise good practiceSome managers failed to recognise theimportance of praising or rewarding goodhygiene behaviour

Conclusions

Most managers readily acknowledged that thebenefits of training their staff went beyondlegal compliance However training whetherin-house or externally provided came at acost which was often difficult for smallbusinesses to bear Most of these micro-businesses were too small to be able to makeadequate cover arrangements for staffundertaking training off-site There areproblems with course availability and timingand some reported that staff were reluctant toundertake formal training The high turnoverof staff was a continual financial drain on thebusinesses

The results of this survey appear to showthat if businesses are required to train staff torecognised levels for licensing they willovercome the barriers to training Hygienetraining in retail butchers prior to the newlegislation was poor Many failed to meet thelegal requirement to train commensurate withwork activity The extent and level of trainingin this sample of retail butchers who had tocomply with the licensing regulations wasbetter than care homes and caterers of anequivalent size Most licensed premises wereable to demonstrate a better management offood safety than those without a licence

It is doubtful whether some of the carehomes were compliant with the Food Safety(General Food Hygiene) Regulations Themost obvious training deficit in some carehomes was the lack of appropriate training forstaff undertaking food preparation activities inthe periods when catering staff were off-dutyOf more fundamental concern was the lack ofhigher level of training for supervisors ormanagers Without the understanding andknowledge gained even on a basic course it isdifficult to see how senior staff can encouragethe appropriate attitudes and behaviour ofoperational staff Generally it is recognisedthat the higher the level of hygiene trainingthe greater the commitment to food safetyThe general lack of satisfactory hygienemanagement systems in this sector must alsorelate to the lack of appropriate training ofsenior staff The Care Standard Act whichcame into effect in April 2002 has placedmany pressures on home managers and manyhomes are facing closure unable to meet thenew legal requirements With 1000 carehome beds across Wales lost last year it may

78





be assumed that factors other than food safetytraining are a priority for home managers

The number of catering premises (carehomes and restauranthotels) in this surveywithout a formal food hygiene system (30 percent) was in line with a local authority surveyon estimates of HACCP implementationlevels (FSA) Prior to licensing the numbersof retail food premises without a formalhygiene system was greater (42 per cent) thancaterers but now there is near full compliancein the retail meat sector The FSA has setitself a target for 30 per cent of foodbusinesses to be operating documentedHACCP based controls by 2004 The FSAinitiatives for the catering industry are todevelop and disseminate a range of HACCPbased guidance and support materials andimprove HACCP understanding and helpbusinesses put practical HACCPmanagement controls in place The FSA hasdecided that licensing should not form part ofthe immediate HACCP action plan but maybe considered at a later stage While the FSAinitiatives are welcomed it seems unlikelythat voluntary action alone will be sufficientto lead to the wide scale adoption of HACCPbased food safety management systems bycatering establishments which represent 62per cent of all food businesses

References

Cavendish M (2001) ` View from the other sidersquorsquoEnvironmental Health Journal December

Coleman P Griffith C and Botterill D (2000) ` Welshcaterers an exploratory study of attitudes towardssafe food handling in the hospitalityrsquorsquo HospitalityManagement Vol 19 pp 145-57

Eheri JE Morris GP and McEwen J (1997) ` A surveyof HACCP implementation in Glasgow is theinformation reaching the targetrsquorsquo InternationalJournal of Environmental Health Vol 7 pp 71-84

Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) (2001) Guide toFood Safety Training FSAI Dublin

Food Standard Agency (2001) Industry Guide to GoodHygiene Practice Butchersrsquo Shop LicensingSupplement to the Retail Guide Chadwick HouseGroup Ltd London

Griffith C (2000) Safe Handling of Food Marcel DekkerNew York NY pp 235-56

Guerrier Y Kipps M Lockwood A and Sheppard J(1992) ` Perceptions of hygiene and quality in foodservice operationsrsquorsquo Progress in Tourism Recreationand Hospitality Management Vol 4Bellhaven Press London pp 182-94

Howes M McEwen S Griffiths M and Harris L(1996) ` Food handler certification by home studymeasuring changes in knowledge and behaviourrsquorsquoDairy Food Environmental Sanitation Vol 16pp 737-44

Mortlock MP Peters AC and Griffith C (1999) ` Foodhygiene and HACCP in the UK food industrypractices perceptions and attitudesrsquorsquo Journal ofFood Protection Vol 62 pp 786-92

Mortlock MP Peters AC and Griffith C (2000)` A national survey of food hygiene training andqualification levels in the UK food industryrsquorsquoInternational Journal of Environmental HealthVol 10 pp 111-23

Noe RA (1986) ` Traineesrsquo attributes and attitudesneglected influences on training effectivenessrsquorsquoAcademy of Management Review Vol 11 No 4pp 736-49

Power K (2002) ` The Food Standards Agencyrsquos strategyfor food safety trainingrsquorsquo paper presented at theEffective Food Safety Training Seminar Newmarket

Seyler DL Holton EF Bates RA Burnett MF andCarvalho MA (1998) ` Factors affectingmotivation to transfer trainingrsquorsquo InternationalJournal of Training and Development Vol 2 No 1pp 2-16

(The) Stationery Office (2000) The Food Safety (GeneralFood Hygiene) (Butchersrsquo Shops) AmendmentRegulations 2000 The Stationery Office London

Tebbutt GM (1992) ` An assessment of food hygienetraining and knowledge among staff in premisesselling high risk foodsrsquorsquo International Journal ofEnvironmental Health Vol 2 pp 131-7

Walker E and Jones N (2002) ` The good the bad andthe ugly of butchersrsquo shops licensing in England plusmnone local authorityrsquos experiencersquorsquo British FoodJournal Vol 104 No 1 pp 20-30

Worsfold D and Griffith CJ (2001) International Journalof Environmental Health Vol 11 pp 245-56

Further reading

Food Safety and Hygiene Working Group (1997) IndustryGuide to Good Hygiene Practice Retail GuideChadwick House Group Ltd London

Food Safety and Hygiene Working Group (1997) IndustryGuide to Good Hygiene Practice Catering GuideChadwick House Group Ltd London

79





retail butchers However current proposalsfor consolidation of the EU Hygiene Directiveare likely to result in HACCP becomingmandatory throughout the food industry TheFood Standard Agency (FSA) proposesaction to increase access to and uptake offormal HACCP training and has set targetsfor the increased adoption of HACCP in thecatering industry

Research undertaken by Guierrier et al(1992) showed that managers and supervisorsfrom the catering industry believe that foodhygiene is significant only when somethinggoes wrong Food hygiene issues includingcleanliness and temperature control of foodwere viewed in terms of aesthetics rather thanfood safety Most managers perceive theirbusinesses to be low risk regardless of thefoods they are handling (Mortlock et al1999) They lack the higher levels of hygienetraining that would enable them to accuratelyassess the risk offered by their business anddetermine appropriate hygiene training fortheir staff

The prevailing attitudes standards andmorale within a business form part of theorganisational culture which has an influenceon the motivation of employees to transfertraining to the workplace Research (Seyleret al 1998 Noe et al 1986) has shown thatenvironmental factors such as supervisorsupport supervisor sanctions peer supportand situational constraints or aids of the jobsetting in which the training will be used havea significant influence on traineesrsquo motivationto transfer training to the workplace

The purpose of this survey was to comparethe provision of food safety and hygiene trainingin retail butchers caterers and care homes andto determine whether the recent legislativechanges have contributed to improvements Italso sought to find out more about theorganisational culture of food businesses asrevealed by managersrsquo perceptions of andattitudes towards hygiene training

The survey

The survey was conducted between May2001 and July 2002 in 66 small or medium-sized independent businesses in South WalesAll the businesses handled raw meat orpoultry and a mixture of ready-to-eat foodsThey represented in equal numbers retailbutchers cafeteriashotels (caterers) and

nursingresidential (care) homes A semi-structured interview with the manager orhead chefcatering manager (hotels) ormatron (nursingresidential homes) wasconducted and information gathered on howeach complied with the training guidanceprovided by the industry guides

The survey covered the number of stafftheir employment status (fullpart-timecasual) the initial training provided thehygiene content of any on-the-job traininghygiene training provision for low and high-risk food handlers supervisors and managersArrangements for refresher training trainingrecords and the evaluation of training werecovered together with the managersrsquoperceptions of the barriers and benefits oftraining Observations were carried outwhere possible on the hygiene practices of thestaff after the interview with the manager andthey were encouraged to provide examples ofrelevant documents for inspection

Each manager was asked to complete aquestionnaire on their perceptions of andattitudes towards hygiene training and the in-house training activities undertaken in thebusiness This was developed afterconducting six interviews with two managersin each of the three sectors Participants wereasked to register their agreement or otherwisewith 48 statements that covered generalaspects of food safety perceptions of foodhygiene qualifications and trainerssupporting activities they provided in theirbusinesses and their role as hygiene trainers

Results

Most of the businesses in this survey could bedescribed as rsquorsquomicro businessesrsquorsquo because theyemploy less than ten members of staff Thehomes and caterers employed on averagemore than twice the number of staff thanretail butchers and both relied heavily onpart-time employees Homes employed morepart-time staff than full-timers (Figure 1)

Initial training

More homes and caterers than butchersclaimed to provide a basic level of hygieneawareness before food handlers started workThey also provided more induction trainingthan butchers (Figure 2)

69



















70











On-the-job training



71








72



















73

















Refresher training




74






Discussion




Initial training


75












76







Observations




77








Conclusions




78







References


















Further reading



79



















70











On-the-job training



71








72



















73

















Refresher training




74






Discussion




Initial training


75












76







Observations




77








Conclusions




78







References


















Further reading



79











On-the-job training



71








72



















73

















Refresher training




74






Discussion




Initial training


75












76







Observations




77








Conclusions




78







References


















Further reading



79








72



















73

















Refresher training




74






Discussion




Initial training


75












76







Observations




77








Conclusions




78







References


















Further reading



79



















73

















Refresher training




74






Discussion




Initial training


75












76







Observations




77








Conclusions




78







References


















Further reading



79

















Refresher training




74






Discussion




Initial training


75












76







Observations




77








Conclusions




78







References


















Further reading



79






Discussion




Initial training


75












76







Observations




77








Conclusions




78







References


















Further reading



79












76







Observations




77








Conclusions




78







References


















Further reading



79







Observations




77








Conclusions




78







References


















Further reading



79








Conclusions




78







References


















Further reading



79







References


















Further reading



79





a survey of food hygiene and safety training in the retail ... · mandatory throughout the food...

Documents