Today, the FDA released its report on the Occurrence of Foodborne Illness Risk Factors in Retail Food Store Delis.
This report summarizes the agency's findings from the 2019-2022 data collection and is part of the FDA's larger effort to study trends in the occurrence of foodborne illness risk factors, food safety behaviors, and practices in food service facilities. Risk factors are food preparation practices that can contribute to outbreaks of foodborne illness such as inadequate cooking, poor personal hygiene, or using food from unsafe sources.
The delis used in the study were randomly selected from locations across the United States. Key findings noted in the report include:
- Delis that had a Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM) who was the person in charge at the time of the data collect had significantly better food safety management system (FSMS) scores than those that did not have a CFPM; and
- Having a well-developed FSMS was the strongest predictor that risk factors would be minimized; and
- The two most commonly occurring out of compliance risk factors were improper holding time and temperature, and poor personal hygiene; and
- The least commonly out of compliance risk factor was inadequate cooking.
The complete list of findings is available in the report. Additionally, the FDA is releasing two fact sheets with Calls to Action for regulators and industry. The fact sheets are intended to help these two key audiences focus on improving food safety practices based on the findings of the study.
Data from the 2019-2022 collection will be used to evaluate trends in the occurrence of risk factors in future data collections and help the FDA identify where risk-based interventions may be needed to protect public health. The FDA will use this information while working with partners to develop additional retail food safety initiatives, policies, and targeted intervention strategies. The information will also be used to inform the next data collection which is scheduled to begin in October 2026. These results will also help FDA better target resources and technical assistance to state, local, tribal, and territorial regulatory professionals nationwide.