September Is National Food Safety Month
Celebrate Food Safety Month with These Environmental Health Resources
Watch the replay of our free food safety webinar!
Join us for an engaging food safety webinar, Set the Table: Improving Restaurant Food Safety Through Science and Practice. Hear from Dr. Laura Brown and Lieutenant Commander Beth Wittry from CDC and Thuy Kim from the University of Minnesota.
They shared information on key CDC training and surveillance resources for outbreaks, along with exciting new research findings on restaurant food safety. This free webinar is offered as part of the Environmental Health Nexus series. The webinar broadcasted via Zoom on Tuesday, September 13, from 1:00–2:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
How do restaurant grading and posting relate to outbreak rates?
Read our new paper, published in the Journal of Food Protection, on restaurant grading practices and outbreaks. Restaurants that posted inspection results at the restaurant had fewer outbreaks than restaurants that posted results online or not at all. Use of letter grades in restaurant inspections also was associated with fewer outbreaks than no grading.
You may also be interested in
- Visual abstract [PDF – 267 KB] from a related CDC project with the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) on Disclosing Inspection Results at Point-of-Service.
- Article about the importance of data in preventing foodborne illnesses.
Explore our food safety training, surveillance, and research.
Take our Environmental Assessment Training Series (EATS) to learn concepts, key skills, and steps for environmental assessments of restaurants implicated in an outbreak. The training has simulated exercises on interviewing food workers, collecting environmental samples, and determining how and why germs got into the environment and spread.
Is your jurisdiction participating in our National Environmental Assessment Reporting System, NEARS? Learn more about NEARS and explore our latest NEARS findings to learn about the three underlying root causes that precede C. perfringens outbreaks.
Explore more resources from CDC and our partners.
Check out more CDC food safety resources for environmental health professionals.
Explore CDC graphics, videos, and social media messages for this year’s theme—For a safe plate, don’t cross-contaminate.
Access CDC norovirus infographics, videos, and more.
Explore these resources from our partners:
- Food Safety Education Month: Preventing Cross-Contamination (information for the public) – U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service
- New Era of Smarter Food Safety – Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
- 2023 Retail Program Standards Self-Assessment and Verification Audit Workshops Save-the-Date – FDA
- Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Standards (FDA, updated to include reformatted curriculum lists, updated worksheets, and alternative sampling methods)
- FDA Food Code Adoption Toolkit – Retail Food Safety Regulatory Association Collaborative
- Foodborne Illness Outbreak Resource Library – Retail Food Safety Regulatory Association Collaborative
- National Food Safety Education Month – NEHA
- NEHA-FDA Retail Flexible Funding Model Grant Program Applications Open through October 12
- Retail Food Safety Regulatory Training Needs Assessment Now Open – NEHA
- Best Practices and Resources for Local Retail Food Regulatory Programs During a Public Health Emergency report [PDF – 593 KB] and checklist [PDF 136 KB] – National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO)
- Risk-Based Inspection Resources:
- Checklist: Virtual Inspections of Food Service Establishments Through Risk-Based Inspections [PDF – 128 KB] – NACCHO
- Infographic: Why Risk-Based Inspections in Retail Food Safety Matter [PDF – 715 KB] – NACCHO and the Conference for Food Protection (CFP)
- Analysis of Factors Influencing the Implementation of Risk-Based Inspections: A Study Conducted with Local Retail Food Regulatory Programs – NACCHO and CFP
- Analysis of Factors Impacting the Implementation of Effective Intervention Strategies: A Study Conducted with Local Retail Food Regulatory Programs [PDF 5.3 MB] – NACCHO and CFP
- Issue Brief: An Evaluation of Existing Retail Program Standards Networks [PDF – 1.3 MB] – NACCHO and CFP
- Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response 3rd edition (available in English and Spanish) – Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response