On October 22, USFDA released a new 10-year Survey tracking food retail, restaurant, and food service industry efforts to control and reduce key food safety risk factors. In addition, USFDA has identified the need for trained and credentialed food safety managers in a separate Report which documents the effect of the presence of such credentialed managers on food safety compliance.

In comments announcing the release of these reports, the FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods, Michael R. Taylor, reviewed food industry recent progress in these key areas and suggested areas for needed improvement.

A component of the 10-year study, the 2009 FDA Survey Report, documents that the presence of a certified food protection manager in four facility types is correlated with statistically significant higher compliance levels with food safety practices and behaviors than in facilities lacking a certified manager.

Three documents are attached below: (1) Comments by Michael Taylor; (2) the 1998-2008 Survey; (3) the 2009 Survey documenting the effect of the presence of certified food safety managers on foodborne illness risk factors.