Article
Telling your food safety story
Many QSRs have strong standards, but they take a quiet approach communicating that message.
February 28, 2010
In the past few years, consumers have been faced with a litany of food woes: E-coli-tainted lettuce supplied to Taco Bell. Tomatoes blamed for a widespread salmonella outbreak. Melamine contamination found in powdered milk.
As government leaders and food-safety experts with The Produce Safety Project meet this week to discuss the cost of such outbreaks — and the need to reform the nation's food-safety oversight system — quick-service brands need to be mindful of the cost to consumer confidence.
Foodservice industry experts predict that consumers will continue to be preoccupied with food safety throughout the next 10 years, according to a survey released at last month's Global Food Safety Conference. Survey respondents predicted that biological risks/microbial safety, supply chain and contaminants will still be the top food safety issues in 2020.
Certainly, the restaurant industry has made a number of advancements in food safety practices over the last several decades, from regulating food cooking and holding temperatures systemwide to instituting product testing procedures. But have they done enough to communicate those standards to the customer in front of the counter?
Top-performing quick-service chains tend not to broadcast their food safety standards but communicate by example, said Robert Gravanti, a professor of food science at Cornell University.
"Those that do the absolute best job have a well-ensconced culture of food safety engrained throughout their organization," he said. "In other words, they are doing the right things right all of the time because they're well aware of the importance of it."
Operating on culture of food safety
Chains that run on a culture of food safety, otherwise known as conscious competence, operate with food safety standards always top of mind. It begins with training, such as through the National Restaurant Association's ServSafe program. But it continues with refresher courses and an attitude of vigilance.
Such operators will be mindful of their food preparation as well as the overall cleanliness of their stores, from the parking lot to the back of house. That culture is then evident to customers through efforts such as clean windows, swept floors and well-kept employee uniforms.
"People still look at the cleanliness of their surroundings, and certainly that factors into which establishment they patronize," Gravanti said.
An informal survey conducted by QSRweb.com supports that information. According to our survey, 97 percent of respondents say they look at the overall cleanliness of the restaurant to judge the safety of food prepared there. Also of strong importance were clean restrooms (83.2 percent) and high grades/scores from local health officials (75.8 percent).
The survey also found that most of the respondents (40 percent) were at least as concerned about food safety as they were a few years ago. Nearly 37 percent of respondents said they were somewhat more concerned about food safety at restaurants, and 23 percent said they were more concerned. Nearly 46 percent had left a restaurant at least once over concerns about food safety, and nearly 39 percent have complained to a manager about their concerns.
Survey respondents said that concerns over H1N1 and other outbreaks as well as media reports of foodborne illness have led to increased awareness. Some also said they are concerned that cutting costs has taken a priority over food safety.
Gravanti said that for many consumers, a clean restaurant translates to the belief that the store follows stringent food safety standards back of house. "They think, 'Well, if they're not paying attention to this, are they paying attention to the safety of the food they're preparing, holding and serving,'" he said.
Industry advancements in food safety
Robert Buchanan is a professor of food science and director of the Center for Food Safety and Security Systems at the University of Maryland. He has found that restaurants are well aware of the consumer perception of food safety. And many chains have responded with a number of advancements, some as the result of an outbreak and others because they want to assure their customers of their standards.
The growing adoption of store designs with an open view of the kitchen — a model common in the fast casual segment — is one advancement. Allowing customers to see how their food is being handled and prepared is reassuring but can backfire.
"That (open model) is a two-edged sword for restaurants because that also means they actually need to deliver on good practices," Buchanan said.
Some chains, like McDonald's, have set standards above those required by the government. Sometimes, having such high standards is for their own protection, especially since insurance companies have become more aggressive about decreasing the economic risk to a business in light of large-scale foodborne illness outbreaks, he said.
McDonald's spokesperson Danya Proud said the company has made food safety and food quality a priority since the chain was founded more than 55 years ago.
"You will hear across the board at McDonald's that food safety and food quality are top priorities and will absolutely not be compromised," she said.
The company has noticed that in recent years, consumers have become increasingly mindful of food safety and food quality, she said. In response, the company developed a marketing campaign focused on its food quality. The "What we're made of" campaign flashes images of raw ingredients at the end of those commercials.
McDonald's also has a food quality Web site, which includes videos depicting the assembly of some the chain's more popular menu items.
The company also recognized consumers want to know more about its food safety standards, Proud said. Three years ago, the company launched its Moms Quality Correspondents program to allow mothers access to suppliers and processors of its menu items, including apples, beef and chicken. The women then blog about what they've seen, in a grass-roots public relations effort.
"We've always been open and transparent but certainly recognize over the past several years that there was a need to better educate our customers on exactly what we do, how we do it and how seriously we take it," Proud said.
As part of that effort, earlier this year McDonald's invited a USA Today reporter to tour the company's beef patty processing facility after a report indicated QSRs often had stricter standards than schools did for their meat.
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At its beef patty processing plant, the raw beef is tested for pathogens when it arrives at the plant. Any product testing positive for e-coli or other pathogens is discarded, as is any product processed two hours prior and two hours after the positive test, Proud said. The beef patties themselves also are tested for width to ensure proper cooking on the chain's clam-shell grills at the store level.
Each McDonald's location also has strict daily food safety procedures, including the test and calibration of all cooking equipment. Products also are tested at the grill to ensure they are fully cooked.
Buchanan said it has become more common for major foodservice chains to develop food safety standards beyond that required by the government. But, as with McDonald's, it is uncommon for them to promote those standards. Communicating that message to consumers can be tricky.
The key is not to market the company's standards as a selling point but to communicate them in a way that expresses the chain cares about its customers.
"The first thing you need to establish with the consumer is that you care about them," Buchanan said. "You can talk about the science, you can talk about the programs to different degrees, but you need to establish a degree of trust. If you can't do that or if you establish trust and you're not delivering on it, it will turn on you."
*Photo by accent on electric via Flickr.
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