Established restaurant chain's food safety system as benchmark for educational food service operations

Results of the survey showed that the personnel of the commercial food service establishment were within the age range of 18.25 yrs with tertiary education but no previous experience in food service when they were hired. Majority of them worked on contractual basis. The respondents were very much knowledgeable about their company's food safety program since they had undergone training. Majority of the respondents perceived food safety as something that pertains to "serving food that is safe to eat" and rated it as something that is "very important". The company's HACCP [Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point] program is a result of collaborative effort by the food service establishment's corporate and local offices, its stores, major suppliers and distribution center. The food service establishment's major suppliers and exclusive distribution center strictly observed their own HACCP programs. Results of microbial analysis on hamburger and fried chicken held for 90 min. at room temperature revealed that these products had a microbial count of less than 100 cfu/g. The gravy has 135 cfu/g although this was very well within the site, tolerable limit of 500 cfu/g. For the educational food service establishment, the age range of the personnel was from 26 to 35 years. Most of them have worked with the University of Food Service for more than 10 years and were employed as permanent employees of the University. A few of the respondents were aware of some food safety procedures obtained from past training seminars. However, this awareness was not reflected in their work. Microbial count of the "menudo" held for 90 min. at room temperature was acceptable at less than 100 cfu/g. The six elements of the food safety program were as follows: vision to implement such program, skill development for personnel, product standards and process controls, resources such as human, financial and material, organization with well-define tasks and monitoring