THE EFFECTS OF INSPECTION FREQUENCY AND FOOD HANDLER EDUCATION ON RESTAURANT INSPECTION VIOLATIONS

The effectiveness of restaurant inspections and food handler education are not known. Consequently, the optimal frequency of neither has bee n determined. Thirty randomly selected restaurants from seven health u nits in three provinces were inspected by one of three senior inspecto rs. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. The violation score worsened when the time since last inspection was greater than 12 month s, but did not worsen when the interval was shorter. Those restaurants in which supervisors and food handlers had completed food handler edu cation courses had better inspection scores than those without. Restau rants whose food handlers had food service education had better scores only for time and temperature violations. These outcomes were all sig nificant in a multiple regression model. The duration of most educatio n courses was under five days. The time since the last food service ed ucation course was not significant. Routine inspections should be done yearly. Food service education should be offered to both supervisors and food handlers.