Food Safety Education to Assist Residential Childcare Institutions in the Development and Implementation of a HACCP-based Food Safety Plan

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: In 2004, the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act amended the National School Lunch Act by requiring the state school food authorities to implement a HACCP-based food safety program for the preparation and service of meals served by all institutions that participate in the breakfast and lunch programs. Residential Child Care Institutions (RCCI) participate in these assisted meal programs and must comply with the regulation. RCCI facilities provide residential and care services to children that do not or cannot live in their family home. The diverse populations, sizes and operational settings of RCCI's have complicated compliance and has led to serious challenge for state education authorities in providing assistance needed for the facilities to meet all the food safety requirements, including development of the HACCP-based food safety plans. Small RCCI facilities cannot successfully implement the food safety plan required without assistance, training and direction. The overall goal of this project is to train and assist RCCI personnel (and residents) to develop and implement a HACCP-based food safety plan as required by the Act, with special emphasis directed to the smaller facilities of 20 or less residents.

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APPROACH: In partnership with the University of Massachusetts and the RI and MA Departments of Education, the designated school food authorities in both states, a training and pilot program will be developed, with special emphasis directed to the personnel and residents of smaller Residential Child Care Institutions, that would allow successful implementation of the process approach to HACCP in their foodservice settings.The program will reflect both the results of a needs assessment survey and the food safety requirements of the USDA, Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004. Participant and on-site (inspection, microbial) evaluations will used to monitor facility progress as well as to revise training as needed. Subawards will be made to other states to further evaluate the effectiveness and usefulness of the program. The outreach efforts will be revised as necessary and expanded within the region and other states.

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PROGRESS: 2007/09 TO 2008/09<BR>
OUTPUTS: There has been significant progress toward accomplishing the objectives outlined. Project directors have met to discuss project protocol, implementation and timeline. An evaluation expert was hired and subcontracts approved. The request to the University Institutional Review Board for the protection of human subjects for the project was approved. The needs assessment survey of northeast Residential Child Care Institutions (RCCI's) was developed and implemented. The survey was distributed to food safety experts and state department of education personnel for evaluation of content validity. Prior to direct mailings to RCCI sites, a copy of the survey and introductory letter was sent to RCCI sponsoring agencies to inform them of the project, describe the survey and its importance and solicit their cooperation in encouraging the sites that they oversee to complete the survey. In April/May 2008, two complete mailings of the survey were sent to RCCI's in the six-state region (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT) that resulted in completion and return of 15.2%. The survey was designed to collect data relating to RCCI foodservice/kitchen operations, food safety training needs and desired formats, site food safety procedures/practices and attitudes of site managers toward food safety implementation. Agree, disagree and don't know, Yes/No/Not sure, Likert scale (1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree) and write-in response formats were used. Descriptive, 1-way ANOVA and t-Test and Chi-square statistics were run. Item means were rank ordered. Forty-four knowledge-based operational questions for 186 respondents were assessed at item and category level using the Fight-Bac food safety categories as well as receiving/general food storage statements. Knowledge and attitude questions had reliability scores of .89 and .97, respectively. Of the respondents, 48% had 20 or fewer residents at the site and 52% had over 20 clients. Using 80% as subject mastery standard for knowledge, the overall knowledge base for food safety practices of sites with more then 20 residents was significantly higher (p survey support the need for outreach programming and training targeting RCCI's of 20 residents or less. Overall, there was a positive attitude toward the need to implement food safe practices, provide food safety training for staff and residents and to comply with health regulatory requirements. Using the results of the survey, outreach strategies and curriculum format/development have begun. Finally, advisory committees for RI and MA have been formed and have either met during the reporting period or are scheduled to meet at the beginning of the next. <BR> PARTICIPANTS: All participants have been articulated in the original project proposal. Specifically: University of Rhode Island state project directors, Dr. Lori Pivarnik and Martha Patnoad, are the principal investigators for this project with responsibility for the coordination of all aspects of the development and implementation the project, activities, management the project budget and liaison with the state advisory team. As evaluation expert, Dr. Robert Gable, has responsibility to aid in the development of the RICCI survey instrument and all written evaluation tools to be utilized in the project. He will also analyze the data and provide written reports which will be utilized by the project team in the development/and or modification of existing food safety education materials for professional and support staff and residents of the RCCI's in the pilot project. Dr. Gable will also review all manuscripts submitted for publication. Nicole Richard, Research Assistant, will provide support for all aspects of the project as needed with particular responsibility of data organization/entry, graphics, statistical assessment of data and development of input for research presentations and publications as well as review. In addition, Steven Carey, Nutrition Program Specialist; Rhode Island Department of Education is part of the core project team. Thomas Nerney, Community Program Liaison, Division of Food Protection, RI Department of Health will be participating in this project. A research Assistant II will be hired to conduct all pre/post microbiological evaluations of pilot sites and assist in other aspects of project implementation as needed. University Massachusetts state project director, David Nyachuba, Ph.D., University Extension Nutrition Education Food Safety Leader, is a member of the core project team, assist in the development and implementation of research and outreach activities described in the proposal. He will coordinate project activities with the Massachusetts Department of Education and other state agencies as well as state advisory teams in Massachusetts. Dr Nyachuba will organize, coordinate, and serve on the state Advisory Committee in Massachusett. Dr. Lynne McLandsborough, Assoc. Professor of Food Science, will direct microbiological analyses of samples obtained from participating pilot RCCI locations in Massachusetts. Rita Brennan Olson, Nutrition Education and Training Coordinator Massachusetts Department of Education, will assist in recruitment of RCCI pilot programs, and serve as member of the core project team and on the state advisory committee. Ms Brennan Olson will also participate in in-service education. Kids First, Inc., RI project partner organization and collaborator (Dorothy Brayley and Marti Breau) will be responsible for minutes of advisory meetings, coordination of RCCI on-site in-service education and on-going pilot facility oversight in RI. In addition, Ms. Brayley is responsible for financial oversight for Kids First subcontract. Advisory groups - State project directors, RCCI and State Department of Education and/or State Health Department representatives. Make-up of committees differs between states <BR> TARGET AUDIENCES: On-going efforts include development and implementation of training materials and workshops for food safety education RCCI staff and residents; special emphasis will be directed to smaller RCCI facilities of 20 residents or less. Assistance provided by this project will allow Residential Child Care Institution personnel to develop and implement a HACCP-based food safety plan as required by the USDA, Section 111 of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004. <P>
IMPACT: 2007/09 TO 2008/09<BR>
Most outcomes/impacts will occur during the next year. This is when curriculum and resource materials will be complete, pilot sites identified, RCCI in-service completed and pilot program implementation and evaluation protocols (microbiological and inspection-based) will be initiated.