The Association Between Season and Critical Food Safety Violations in San Diego County Retail Food Facilities

Download or read book The Association Between Season and Critical Food Safety Violations in San Diego County Retail Food Facilities written by and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 59 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Public health is expected to be adversely affected by climate change. One aspect is rising temperatures that will directly and indirectly impact the biological mechanisms that propagate the spread of disease. Future summer heat waves are projected to increase in frequency, intensity, and duration, reaching historic temperatures by the end of the century. While previous studies have found links between increased ambient temperatures and increased cases of foodborne illness, the role of critical temperature violations in retail food facilities has not been clearly established. Improper hot and cold holding temperatures of potentially hazardous foods is one of the 5 major predictors of foodborne illness according to the CDC. In this study the association between daily maximum temperatures over the 2 year study period of 2013-2014 and holding temperature violations was examined. Inspection and violation data for the 2-year period was obtained from the County of San Diego's Department of Environmental Health. When rates of temperature violations were examined, days with maximum temperatures greater or equal to 20°C, 25°C, and 30°C were associated with higher rates of violations (p