Food Safety Practices among Establishments regarding Food Delivery Orders in Ohio
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Date
2022-05
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Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
With the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an influx of food delivery systems, both directly through the retail food service businesses and through third-party delivery companies. There are currently no regulations indicating who is responsible for food safety or what practices should be in place for retail food service establishment delivery systems. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to identify gaps in current knowledge and practices around food safety within food delivery systems. Retail food service establishments were recruited from the Ohio Restaurant Association membership list in January 2022 to complete an online survey about their establishment's food safety-related knowledge, practices, and policies for food deliveries. A total of 76 respondents, representing 291 retail food service establishments within Ohio, met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. The majority of respondents represented independent establishments (71.05%) and offered full-service dining (55.26%) as their main type of food service. Over half of establishments (55.26%) only used third party delivery systems whereas just over a third (35.53%) only used directly employed drivers; the remaining establishments (9.21%) used both methods (Mixed) of food delivery. The majority of respondents indicated that their establishments used some form of temperature control packaging (78.9%) and food order seal method (86.8%) for their food deliveries. These findings will inform the development of outreach and education efforts for food delivery system operators and, ultimately, improve food safety for customers of retail food service businesses.
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Keywords
Food delivery, Third-party, Direct-to-consumer, Food safety