Food safety knowledge of head chefs and catering managers in Ireland
                                                    
In this part of the e-bulletin, we would like to share some results of the study conducted by scientists from Ashtown Food Research Centre and the University of Ulster Jordanstown to establish the knowledge of chefs and catering managers' knowledge of food safety management and practice in Ireland. For the full results and the information acquired from the survey please see the original paper published in Food Control*

200 head chefs and catering managers, responsible for food hygiene in catering establishments, throughout the island were surveyed. Face to face interviews were used to obtain data on training, food storage and delivery, food handling, personal hygiene and cleaning, food preparation and knowledge of relevant bacterial pathogens.

This study was conducted in 200 catering establishments (hotel restaurants and independent restaurants) across the four provinces of Ireland in proportion to population density. Catering establishments in each province were randomly selected from lists supplied by the relevant environmental health inspection service, following consultation with Irish catering/restaurant professional associations. Some of the results derived from this study:

• 20% of kitchen staff had no formal training though formal training did not result in improved food safety practices
• the concept and application of hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) was poorly understood;
• 22.5% of head chefs did not report safe practices in defrosting frozen
• common microbial foodborne pathogens, such as Salmonella, were familiar to most interviewees, although few could name the source of these bacteria.

The results of this study suggest that although most Irish restaurant head chefs/catering managers have a fundamental knowledge of some aspects of food safety and food safety practice, significant gaps remain, posing real risks to consumer health. It is important that head chefs/catering managers and other personnel in key positions to deliver essential standards in consumer food safety, should be supported through additional training and routine inspection to ensure that appropriate knowledge is acquired and effectively applied.

Reference

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