Properly executed handwashing by food employees can greatly minimize the risk of transmitting foodborne pathogens to food and food contact surfaces in restaurants. However, food employee handwashing is often not done correctly nor does it occur as often as it should. The purpose of this study was to assess the relative impact of 1) the convenience and accessibility of handwashing facilities; 2) the maintenance of handwashing supplies, 3) multi-unit status, 4) having a Certified Food Protection Manager, and 5) having a Food Safety Management System on compliance with proper handwashing. Results showed marked differences in handwashing behaviors between fast-food and full-service restaurants. Forty-five percent of fast-food restaurants and 57% of full-service restaurants were found to be out of compliance for washing hands correctly. Fifty-seven percent of fast-food establishments and 78% of full-service establishments were out-of-compliance for employee hands being washed when required. Logistic regression results point toward the benefits of accessibility and maintenance of the handwashing sink and food establishments having a Food Safety Management System to increase the likelihood of employees washing hands when they are supposed to and washing them correctly when they do.

Food employee contamination of ready-to-eat foods through improper food handling practices is an important contributing factor for foodborne illness in retail and food service establishments. Decreasing the incidence of improper food handling practices is a frequent topic of retail food policy deliberations that often involves estimating the degree to which a proposed policy might affect a specific food handling practice. However, the potential reduction in contaminated servings of food, and therefore foodborne illnesses avoided, associated with a given proposed policy change, is all too often uncertain. This article discusses the components, assumptions, and applications of the food handling practices model, a quantitative model that estimates the impact of food handling practices on servings of food moving along three consecutive stages: the contamination stage, the pathogen control stage, and the foodborne illness stage. To our knowledge, this article is the first time the model has been presented in an academic platform, and we also explore unique and interesting aspects of the model not addressed in publicly available documents. Risk-based estimates for contaminated servings of food attributed to changes in one or multiple food handling practices are derived that provide an important link between increased compliance with proper food handling practices and public health. Model estimates show that decreases in the incidence of inappropriate food handling practices lead to varying levels of contaminated food servings avoided, depending on the food handling practice. The ability to derive such estimates provides stakeholders and the general public with a means of understanding the relative impact of proposals to reduce improper food handling and to help inform regulatory food safety policy discussions and decision making.

Lignocellulosic and waste from the food industry offers a sustainable way to produce alternative transportation fuel and provide fiber and biomaterial. Thermochemical processes can depolymerize lignin into its phenolic monomers which can be upgraded to aromatic hydrocarbons. Fatty acids from food wastes have functional groups to accommodate selective synthesis of chemicals. These characteristics could be utilized as sustainable high-value additive products for fuels and lubricating oils. In the present study, an effective lubricity additive was synthesized via continuous alkylation of fatty acid methyl esters with aromatic hydrocarbons. A continuous fixed-bed reactor operated at atmospheric pressures was used. Acid-treated montmorillonite and H-ZSM5 were used as catalysts. The effects of the various catalysts on the liquid product composition were investigated while keeping other reaction conditions constant. An improved catalytic activity was achieved in montmorillonite catalyst compared to H-ZSM5 catalysts. The alkylation of fatty acid methyl esters with aromatic hydrocarbons over montmorillonite and alumina-supported Ni catalysts occurred at 200-210 °C.