Abstract
Rates of Salmonella infection in the United States have not changed over the past 20 years. Restaurants are frequent settings for Salmonella outbreaks and sporadic infections. Few studies have examined the effect of posting letter grades for restaurant inspections on the incidence of foodborne illness. We compared Salmonella infection rates in New York, New York, USA (NYC), with those in the rest of New York state before and after implementation of a letter grade system for restaurant inspections in NYC. We calculated a segmented regression model for interrupted time series data. After implementation of letter grading, the rate of Salmonella infections decreased 5.3% per year in NYC versus the rest of New York state during 2011–2015, compared with the period before implementation, 2006–2010. Posting restaurant inspection results as letter grades at the point of service was associated with a decline in Salmonella infections in NYC and warrants consideration for broader use.
Highlights
Rates of Salmonella infection in the United States have not changed over the past 20 years
Food service establishments play a role in the epidemiology of Salmonella infections; Salmonella may contaminate a wide range of raw ingredients, infect food workers, survive on contaminated surfaces, and grow in improperly held food items
The letter grade program has already been shown to lead to improvements in sanitary conditions in NYC: 35% more restaurants earned A grades in the 3 years after grading, compared with the 3 years before [9]
Summary
Rates of Salmonella infection in the United States have not changed over the past 20 years. We compared Salmonella infection rates in New York, New York, USA (NYC), with those in the rest of New York state before and after implementation of a letter grade system for restaurant inspections in NYC. After implementation of letter grading, the rate of Salmonella infections decreased 5.3% per year in NYC versus the rest of New York state during 2011–2015, compared with the period before implementation, 2006–2010. Posting restaurant inspection results as letter grades at the point of service was associated with a decline in Salmonella infections in NYC and warrants consideration for broader use. In 2005, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) in New York, NY, USA (NYC), began using a point-scoring system for food service establishment inspections to weight violations to reflect risk factors for foodborne illness. The goal of our study was to compare the incidence of Salmonella infections in NYC with incidence in the rest
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
