Food Protection Trends - October 2009 - 624

“We’ve had some positive feedback with those stickers from guests who actually took the time to read it, and thought that it was a very good idea.” Barriers to implementation Nearly half of the restaurant managers said they experienced no problems with employee buy-in and that the labels were being used as intended, which included writing the date and time that the food was packaged in the space provided on the label (e.g., “No problems. The labels are right beside our take-out containers. Basically, the guy takes the container, puts the label on and then puts a date on it.”). Others identified several barriers to label implementation. Results indicated that the most prominent barriers that must be overcome before implementing the use of safe food-handling labels on restaurant take-out on a permanent basis were consumer characteristics (personal preferences, complaints), employee and management characteristics (attitudes, behavior), and, to a lesser extent, restaurant structure (time pressure, high volume of business). While the date and time were included on the label to provide consumers with a time reference for when to safely consume or when to discard the take-out food, this feature allowed for an unexpected negative consequence related to consumer preferences for quality (i.e., freshness). According to one manager: “The biggest problem that we were finding with [the label] is people are a little ticked off when they see that the food was packaged 20 minutes ago. You know the sticker informed them of the time, so that’s a big deal for us to deal with as well. The customer knows it’s not that fresh and so on and so forth.” Specifically, these consumers preferred to receive their take-out almost immediately after packaging and the time provided on the label notified the consumer of the exact length of time between packaging and receipt. Managers who perceive safe food-handling labels to communicate negatively with consumers may be unwilling to use the tool. Several participants discussed employee motivation (or lack thereof ) as a factor impacting use of the label. For example: “Well, most of them think it’s a pain in the butt. You got to remember these guys are servers and they just want to make money, you know. Do they really care about whatever happens? No they don’t.” As the interview progressed, the same participant added: “…again, the biggest obstacle is that these people couldn’t care once the customer is out the door, to be honest with you.” One establishment’s employees often forgot to apply the labels, but later resolved the problem of irregular use by including in its food runners’ job description the responsibility to affix a label to approximately 40 or 50 take-out containers at the beginning of each shift. Finally, participants felt that time pressure caused by high volumes of business made it difficult to ensure that the label was being used. As one manager shared: “When the project first started, sure, we were using the label all of the time, but then as time went by, we have so many things to do in a restaurant that its just one more thing to do I feel that we failed the project in a lot of ways. We could have been more diligent, but understand, too, with the sheer volume that we do and the responsibility that we have ensuring that the people in the restaurant are happy—and we do a lot of take-out—I think that a lot of it did slip through the cracks, to be honest with you.” DISCUSSION The fear of litigation that motivated members of restaurant management involved in this study to embrace the safe food-handling labels provided is similar to that observed in a study of produce growers (3) in which the threat of lawsuits, damaged reputations, and significant drops in sales resulting from major foodborne outbreaks connected to firms was found to influence the choice to implement food safety practices. Results from this study also support conclusions by Roosen (13) that product differentiation can occur through food safety issues, though Caswell (5) reported that to this point, communicating this type of information via product labeling has been underused. Skepticism of several participants as to whether providing the information actually influenced consumers’ foodhandling behaviors reflect findings of previous studies of safe food-handling instructions provided on raw meat and poultry products, in which researchers determined that a larger educational campaign that involved the label would be necessary to motivate behavioral change in consumers regarding safe food-handling practices (12, 15). Results of the current study suggest that the effectiveness of the label may depend upon the attitude of the consumer upon receipt, just as previous research indicates that providing this sort of information to food handlers can be effective when it accompanies the belief that their behavior is important (7). Some results of the current study can be used to improve the use of safe food-handling labels on take-out food in the future. The perceived benefits of the label to restaurant managers and consumers were limited by the attitudes of consumers toward the information provided and by elements of restaurant structure and environment that lead to inconsistent application. Jenkins-McLean, Skilton, and Sellers (9) determined that behavior of employed food-handlers might be influenced when perceived barriers and benefits are understood. Therefore, training employees to handle the aforementioned barriers may be the step necessary to allow implementation. For example, employees may benefit from coaching on how to address patron complaints related to delayed food delivery, or instruction in time management and organizing priorities to include label application. Pre-emptive application of labels to a number of take-out containers before service begins is recommended for the future use of labels in order to avoid leaving the label off when employees are pressed for time to package take-out. CONCLUSIONS A concern that must be addressed in future research is the possible mistaken belief that the presence of a safe food-handling label, while perhaps adding a layer of protection between their business and potential litigation should a consumer become ill from mishandled 624 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | OCTOBER 2009
Food Protection Trends - October 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - October 2009
