Progress 09/15/07 to 08/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: All project goals outlined have been completed as well as successful extension of outreach efforts (additional training opportunities) in Rhode Island. The final revision of program materials by the project directors was completed. The training program consists of a student notebook (Food Safety Basics: Food Safety Education for Residential Child Care Institutions) with presentations, fact sheets, activities, log/recording templates, and module/lesson evaluations. An instructor's manual has also been developed with presenations/notes, instructions for hands-on activities teaching outline with suggestions for training implementation strategies and evaluations along with appendices that contain all fact sheets and data collection tools (audits, log sheets). The core curriculum contains 3 modules and corresponding activities: Module 1(Food Safety Basics)- cause, prevention and strategies to reduce foodborne illness; Module 2 (Developing a Written Food Safety Plan) - components of a HACCP-based food safety plan and standard operating procedures; and Module 3 - actual food safety plan development, including instructions for implementation and corresponding monitoring procedures required. Originally, grant funds were used to provide all facility representatives in attendance with a flash drive that contained presentations, and" blank" sheets useful in preparing and implementing the food safety plan (e.g. the log sheet templates for cleaning/sanitation, cooked/cooled food temperature, hot holding temperature, refrigeration temperature, and thermometer accuracy/calibrations as well as a monthly audit checklist); however, it is now suggested that future trainers provide the training tool to their participants. A "food safety kit", was also provided to training participants and contained suggested food safety supplies (e.g. color cutting boards, digital thermometer, sanitizer test strips); an informational pamphlet is now provided as a resource. A "Food Safety Smart" DVD (developed as part of a previous USDA-funded project), illustrating the 4 Fight Bac principles, is available and could be used for resident food safety education. National dissemination/announcement of the availability of the RCCI food safety education program was accomplished via 1) letters to state directors of Departments of Education, Child Nutrition Programs, 2) postings to the NIFA-food safety contact and Purdue FNSPEC listerserves; 3) shipment of resources to all pilot RCCIs and 4) letter to advisory group members. In addition, all components of the program were posted on the URI food safety website (http://web.uri.edu/foodsafety) that is either free to download or, at a small cost, available, prepackaged, from the URI Food Safety Education Program. Finally, the partnership between URI-CE Food Safety Education Program and RI Department of Education will continue to offer state RCCI facilities training and support to implement food safety plans. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: On-going efforts of this program/project included development and implementation of food safety training materials and workshops to educate RCCI staff and residents; special emphasis has been 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 PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Evaluations were conducted for all modules in the training programs using a 5-point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree). During the pilot program, over 50 RCCI staff attended all three trainings and 82 attended two. Overall, the participants rated the modules 4.5, 4.3 and 4.4 for teaching modules 1, 2 and 3, respectively. While pre/post on-site audits, using a standardized inspection protocol, indicated that there was improvement in many critical areas, deficiencies still appeared in some areas such as refrigerator temperature monitoring. Mini-grants were awarded to Kansas and Tennessee State universities to continue pilot testing the curriculum and instructor's guide. In the Kansas State (KS) program, 13 participants evaluated the program and rated the modules 4.7 (N=12), 4.3 (N=13) and 4.3 (N=12) teaching modules 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The project director/trainers at KS also developed pre/post attitude and knowledge evaluations for their clientele and knowledge was impacted significantly with correct pre/post scores of 52% to 87% (N=12), 48% to 69% (N=12) and 81% to 86% (N=11) for modules 1,2, and 3 respectively. In the Tennessee State (TS) program, 18 participants evaluated the program and rated the modules 5.0 (N=18) and 4.6 (N=15) for modules 1 and 2, respectively. Unfortunately, during the implementation of the program, the state of TN announced the closings of all the State of Tennessee RCCI group homes due to budgetary constraints and module 3 was never taught or evaluated. Finally, four (4) inservice trainings were conducted in RI as part of the program expansion efforts. These workshops had a total of 36 participants reflecting 23 RCCI facilities. Overall, the participants rated the modules 4.8 (N=31), 4.4 (N=27) and 4.3 (N=28), respectively. The food safety education specialists at the University of Rhode Island, working with RI Department of Education, will continue to offer the RCCI Food Safety Basics program. In addition, they will conduct follow-up assistance to RCCI facilities that have had staff participate in training, through workshops that will address specific problem areas identified by on-site inspectors. Overall, the training has received a very positive response by the target audience with clear knowledge gains and impacts on their on-site foodservice offerings
Publications
- Pivarnik, LF, Ricahrd, NL, Patnoad, MS, and Gable, RK. 2012. Assessment of food safety knowledge and attitudes of managers of residential childcare institutions (RCCIs) in the Northeast. Food Protection Trends. 32(6):296-308.
- Pivarnik, LF, Patnoad, MS, Nyachuba,D, Breau, M, and Richard, NL. 2012. Food safety education to assist residential childcare institutions in the development and implementation of a HACCP-based food safety plan. Poster presented NIFSI project director meeting. Providence, RI, July 21, 2012.
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Progress 09/15/10 to 09/14/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: All original project goals outlined in the project have been completed as well as extension of outreach efforts in Rhode Island. This year's results were excellent with participant evaluations corroborating those of the original RI and MA pilot and reaffirming the value of the curriculum, its contents and approach. As stated in the previous progress report, a RFP was announced to solicit institutions in the Land Grant system to implement and evaluate the RCCI food safety training program. During this past year, 2 institutions applied and received funds: Tennessee State and Kansas State universities. All resources, revised from input from the initial pilot, were sent to the institutions and the curriculum was implemented and evaluated by both participants and project directors in each state. The final revision of program materials by the project directors has been completed and included the valuable input from this final evaluation. The training program consists of a student notebook (Food Safety Basics: Food Safety Education for Residential Child Care Institutions) with presentations, fact sheets, activities, log/recording templates, and module/lesson evaluations and an instructor's manual with presenations/notes, instructions for hands-on activities, fact sheets, teaching outline with suggestions for training implementation strategies and evaluations. The core curriculum contains 3 modules and corresponding activities: Module 1- cause, prevention and strategies to reduce foodborne illness; Module 2 - components of a HACCP-based food safety plan and standard operating procedures; and Module 3 - developing and implementing a food safety plan and corresponding monitoring procedures. While the funds were able to provide all facility representatives in attendance with a flash drive that contained presentations, and" blank" sheets useful in preparing and implementing the food safety plan (e.g. the log sheet templates for cleaning/sanitation, cooked/cooled food temperature, hot holding temperature, refrigeration temperature, and thermometer accuracy/calibrations as well as a monthly audit checklist), it will be suggested that future trainers provide the training tool to their participants. A "food safety kit", suggested as a component for the program, was developed for this program and contained food safety resources (e.g. color cutting boards, digital thermometer, sanitizer test strips). Finally, a "Food Safety Smart" DVD (developed as part of a previous USDA-funded project), that illustrates that 4 Fight Bac principles, is available and could be used for resident food safety education. The remaining funds are being used in RI to expand the RCCI food safety training program and post materials on the URI food safety website. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: During this reporting period, on-going efforts included development and implementation of food safety training materials and workshops to educate RCCI staff and residents; special emphasis has been 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. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
The "mini-grants" awarded to Kansas and Tennessee State universities provided valuable information that resulted in a final, revised curriculum and instructor's guide. In the Kansas State (KS) program, 13 participants evaluated the program and rated the modules 4.7 (N=12), 4.3 (N=13) and 4.3 (N=12) out of 5 (1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree) for teaching modules 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The project director/trainers at KS also developed pre/post attitude and knowledge evaluations for their clientele. While there was little impact of training on overall attitude scores, knowledge was impacted significantly with correct pre/post scores of 52% to 87% (N=12), 48% to 69% (N=12) and 81% to 86% (N=11) for modules 1,2, and 3 respectively. In the Tennessee State (TS) program, 18 participants evaluated the program and rated the modules 5.0 (N=18) and 4.6 (N=15) for modules 1 and 2, respectively. Unfortunately, during the implementation of the program, the state of TN announced the closings of all the State of Tennessee RCCI group homes due to budgetary constraints and module 3 was never taught or evaluated. The project director requested and received an extension so that they could use the curriculum to train their extension agents. Overall, both KS and TS project directors found the training materials were well organized and informative and the training achieved its overall goal. The expansion of the outreach program in RI resulted in two workshops with a total of 28 participants reflecting 16 RCCI facilities. Overall the participants rated the modules 4.7 (N=26), 4.4 (N=19) and 4.3 (N=20) out of 5 for teaching modules 1, 2 and 3, respectively.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 09/15/09 to 09/14/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Significant progress has been made toward completion of all project goals. The pilot RCCI training in RI and MA continued with complete development of Module 3, the hands-on instructional part that included developing site-specific HACCP-based food safety plans and SOP's, implementing monitoring strategies and using HACCP/food safety resources supplied to the participants. All pilot training was completed in the10 participating RCCIs (5 in each state). Post training microbiological evaluations and on-site inspections were completed and compared to assessments done prior to training. Modules 1(N=84), 2 (N=82) and 3 (N=53) were presented and evaluated by RCCI staff participants using a 5-point Likert scale that reflected participant understanding of key concepts, integration of HACCP-principles into daily foodservice activities, confidence in implementation of their food safety plan and meeting USDA requirements and overall assessment of the program. As a result of all pilot training activities, the student notebook (Food Safety Basics: Food Safety Education for Residential Child Care Institutions) was revised and contains all teaching PowerPoint presentations, hands-on activities, demonstrations, fact sheets and log/recordkeeping templates. Each participating RCCI received a "food safety kit" containing food safety resources (e.g. color cutting boards, digital thermometer, dishwasher temperature test strips, Glo-germ kit and sanitizer test strips). In addition, an instructor's guide was assembled that included detailed information on each activity and suggestions on training implementation strategies. A flash drive was also provided that contained all required log sheets and resources that would help facilitate the development of a food safety plan and successful recordkeeping for cleaning/sanitation, cooked/cooled food temperature, hot holding temperature, refrigeration temperature, and thermometer accuracy/calibrations as well as a monthly audit checklist. Those participants who attended Module 3 were also given a "Food Safety Smart Video" to aid in clientele food safety education. This video was developed as part of a previously USDA-funded project. Finally, a RFP was announced through both FNSPEC and NIFA state food safety contact listserves to solicit proposals from other 1862, 1890 and 1994 Land Grant institutions to implement and evaluate the RCCI food safety training program. While 3 awards were budgeted, only 2 institutions applied and received funds: Tennessee State and Kansas State universities. All resource materials developed for this project have been sent to the PIs of these institutions. Target completion date for implementation and evaluation of the RCCI program by the two institutions is April, 2011. Final revision of program materials by the project directors will include the evaluations obtained from these subawards.The remaining funds will be used in RI to expand the RCCI food safety training program. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: During this reporting period, on-going efforts included development and implementation of food safety training materials and workshops to educate RCCI staff and residents; special emphasis has been directed to smaller RCCI facilities of 20 residents or less. Two RFPs have been awarded to Land Grant Institutions to implement and evaluate this program to small RCCI facilities in their states. 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. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
During the pilot, there were over 50 RCCI staff members that attended all three training modules and 82 that attended two. Overall the participants rated the modules 4.5, 4.3 and 4.4 out of 5 (1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree) for teaching modules 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Overall, the program was very well received by RCCI staff and they felt that they understood the concepts and could begin to implement the program. On-site inspection audits also showed significant improvement. There was an increase in food safety plans, SOP's, better temperature control during food preparation, increase in wrapping, dating and inventory control (FIFO) for refrigerated storage, increased use of sanitizer test strips, increased use of records and logs, and increased availability of MSDS sheets. Some deficiencies still appeared to be problematic such as refrigerator temperature monitoring and issues with storage and cross contamination. In a slight modification of original protocol, two different follow-up strategies were used by the outreach specialists. In MA, after the last module, participants were simply told to contact the specialist/instructor if they needed help. This was followed by e-mail contact. There were no requests. In RI, the efforts of the specialist for post training follow-up included both e-mails and direct contact by telephone. As a result, RI participants seemed to respond to this direct contact and asked for and received more site-specific aid and guidance. The latter approach appeared to result in a greater overall improvement in the RI sites when the on-site assessment audits were evaluated. For example, the pre-inspection audit showed that none of the RI sites and 1 out 5 sites in MA had food safety plans. Post inspection showed 4 out of 5 sites in RI had food safety plans and only 2 out of 5 sites in MA had plans. Pre-inspection showed no sites in RI and MA had SOPs for employee health. Post inspection revealed all RI sites now have these SOPs and only 2 out of 5 sites in MA had these SOPs. However, overall inspections showed significant improvement in many critical food safety issues in RCCIs for both states. Furthermore, staff turnover was a problem. Finally, while on-site inspections illustrated improvement in cleaning/sanitation efforts, microbiological and rapid protein (FLASH) assessments showed that there was room for improvement. There appeared to be little to no improvement in the positive readings for presence of proteins. However, RI sites appeared to have 50% less positive detections of microbiological contamination in the post evaluations as compared to MA sites. Again, in MA no site requested follow-up help prior to microbiological assessments; whereas RI sites received contact and follow-up, when requested, prior to on-site determinations. Therefore, it would appear that the small RCCIs may need additional help, beyond training exercises,to achieve a fully successful HACCP -based food safety program.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 09/15/08 to 09/14/09
Outputs
OUTPUTS: There has been significant progress toward accomplishing the objectives outlined. Ten RCCI's (5 in each state) volunteered to be part of the pilot program to develop and implement a HACCP-based food safety plan. On-site, pre-evaluation microbiological and inspection audits were completed. Common microbiological contamination in kitchen facilities were cold storage areas (refrigerator/freezers shelves, drawers), preparation areas/cutting boards, and handles/faucets on sinks and refrigerators as well as microwave keypads. In addition, many areas that appeared clean and did not test positive microbiologically, did result in positive responses to a rapid protein test used to reflect overall sanitation. Common deficiencies found through on-site inspections included: no food safety plans, no standard operating procedures, lack of internal temperature monitoring of food, lack of thermometer calibration, no records for proper re-heating, lack of wrapping and dating stored food, no refrigerator/freezer temperature monitoring records, food storage problems, no MSDS sheets on file and lack of sanitizer strength monitoring. Project directors and advisory members decided to develop three training "modules" entitled Food Safety Basics for RCCI's to address both the lack of food safety knowledge and problematic on-site food safety programs as documented by the needs assessment survey and pre-audits. The on-site staff training was designed to understand food safety principles, develop and implement a food safety plan and comply with USDA regulations. Modules 1 and 2, including PowerPoint presentations and hands-on activities and demonstrations (e.g. process category designations and thermometer accuracy/calibration), were completed. Module 1 was designed to illustrate the cause and prevention of foodborne illness and introduce strategies to reduce risks. Module 2 was developed to explain the components of effective HACCP-based food safety plans and standard operating procedures (SOP's). Modules 1 (N=74) and 2 (N=64) have been presented to 9 out of 10 RCCI's thus far. Training evaluations were developed for each module using a 5-point Likert scale (5=strongly agree to 1=strongly disagree) that reflected participant understanding of key concepts, integration of HACCP-principles into daily foodservice activities and confidence in program implementation as well open-ended questions regarding new information learned and effectiveness of training. Thus far, the training has been extremely successful with overall ratings for modules 1 and 2 at over 4.5 and over 4.2, respectively. Module 3 is currently being developed and will be a hands-on training effort that will include developing site-specific HACCP-based food safety plans and SOP's, implementing monitoring strategies and using HACCP/food safety resources. PARTICIPANTS: All participants have been articulated in the original project proposal and reported in previous progress report. There have been no changes. 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. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Pre- evaluation audits (microbiological and inspection-based) have been completed. Many of the training resources have been developed, and on-site in-service to RCCI staff personnel are on-going. The outcomes/impacts that occurred as a result of the in-service trainings and pilot implementation have thus far resulted in an increase the food safety knowledge, and general agreement among participants that as a result of training they understand HACCP and SOP principles, understand how to categorize menu items as to "process" and prepare corresponding flow charts, understand the major foodservice operational steps, can determine control measures for recipes and understand and apply critical control point, critical limit, monitoring and corrective action strategies to HACCP-based food safety plans.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 09/15/07 to 09/14/08
Outputs
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<.05) then those of 20 or less for all categories assessed. Smaller institutions received low scores for cook (59%), chill/cool (61%) and receiving/storage (71%). However, larger facilities still did not reach the standard, receiving scores of 72%, 73% and 78%, respectively, in the same three categories. Smaller RCCI's were less likely to have a food safety plan (67% vs. 83% for larger) and recipes based on HACCP (28% vs. 64% for larger); both required to meet the regulatory requirements outlined by the USDA. Results of the 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. 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 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. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
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.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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