Development and Evaluation of Sanitation Education Media for Restaurant Employers and Employees

Presently, media for sanitation education consisting of a sanitation manual and a CD-ROM intended for restaurant employers and employees was developed and evaluated. The sanitation manual consisted of five principles: prevention of foodborne illness, personal hygiene, control of food production, instrument and equipment cleaning and sanitation, and management of environmental sanitation. The CD-ROM was composed of animations detailed real-life examples of Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, and Norovirus foodborned illness outbreaks; slides summarizing the five principles of the manual; and a poster entitled You can prevent foodborne illness listing and describing the principles. A 15 question evaluation survey was developed to gauge the efficacy of the animations. The survey was divided into five sections on comprehension of the instructions, content organization concerning understanding, content organization concerning the information presented, content organization concerning retention of interest (concentration), and recommendations concerning concentration. Ranked on a 5-point scale the survey produced a mean value of 3.80+/-0.39 and individual scores of 3.92+/-0.45 (learning instruction), 3.86+/-0.48 (understanding), 3.82+/-0.52 (information), 3.75+/-0.49 (concentration), and 3.67+/-0.58 (concentration-recommendation). Overall, evaluation results of the animation were good and easy to understand, with only a few respondents electing to watch the animations more than once. In terms of continuous and recurring education, sanitation training programs should be easy to learn and contain sufficient and specific examples of the importance of sanitation in achieving food safety.

Foodservice Employees'Awareness and Performance in Sanitation and Customers' Satisfaction with Sanitation at Large-Sized Restaurants

The purpose of this study was to investigate the foodservice employees' awareness and performance in sanitation and customers' satisfaction with sanitation in large sized restaurants in Korea. Sanitation inspections were carried out in 200 large Korean, Western, Chinese, and Japanese style restaurants, and in buffet-style restaurants in Daegu and Gyeongbuk province. Foodservice employees' awareness of sanitation and customers' satisfaction with sanitation were investigated by interviewing 317 foodservice employees and 205 customers. Results of the inspection of restaurants showed low performance in food handling, employees' hygiene (hygienic) practices, and in cleaning food processing equipment. Scores of the foodservice employees' awareness in Chinese style restaurants were significantly lower than scores of workers in western restaurants. Foodservice employees had low awareness of sanitation procedures used for food storage and cleaning of equipment in Korean, Chinese, and Japanese style restaurants. Foodservice employees had low awareness of equipment cleaning, inspection and food distribution in western style restaurants; and of equipment cleaning and food handling in buffet-style restaurants. Foodservice employees at all restaurants had the lowest performance in terms of HACCP. This shows that HACCP application and recording have not yet been properly carried out at restaurants in Korea. Foodservice employees had low performance scores in food handling, vegetable disinfection and disinfection after hand washing. Research on customers' satisfaction with sanitation revealed a low rating of kitchens and foodservice employees at all restaurants. Customers had low satisfaction with servers and kitchen environments in Korean style restaurants; with food, tableware, utensils and servers in western style restaurants; with food and kitchen environments in Chinese style restaurants; with servers, tableware, and utensils in Japanese style restaurants; and with kitchen environments and servers in buffetstyle restaurants. Therefore, cleanliness of kitchen facilities and equipment, and hygienic food handling procedures by workers in restaurants are urgently needed.

A Survey on Practice of Nutrition Education and Perception for Implementing Nutrition Education by Nutrition Teacher in Elementary Schools

The purpose of this study was to investigate the practice of nutrition education and perceptions for implementing nutrition education in elementary schools. In this survey, 833 dietitians, 808 principals and 3,141 teachers across the country were asked about the present status and problems as well as necessity, methods, education time, education subjects and the proper nutrition educator ratio. The results of the survey showed that only 4.2% of dietitians implemented nutrition education during regular school hours or through special activities. Many subjects responded that the reasons for not practicing nutrition education were systematic problems of lack of time due to too much food service work. Especially, many rural area dietitians responded that the reason was lack of time due to joint management and cooking. Many dietitians, principals and teachers responded that the placement of one nutrition teacher in every school is needed to resolve these problems. Other solutions suggested were the introduction of a dietitian internship, and the modernization of foodservice facilities for principals and teachers. Of those surveyed 98.4 percent of principals and 95.5 percent of teachers responded that nutrition education is urgently needed. Many subjects also responded that the first three years of elementary school are the most proper time for nutrition education and it is best that these lessons are reinforced at least once a month through discretional or special activities. Survey participants responded that the proper ratio for nutrition educators is 400-800 persons for dietitians compared to less than 400 persons for principals. In conclusion, it is hoped that this study will be able to provide a foundation of data for implementing a systematic nutrition education program by nutrition teachers in elementary school.