Researchers to Assess Commercial Preventative Food Safety Program
University Park, Pa. -- Amit Sharma, assistant professor of hospitality management at Penn State, received $555,819 for three years from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop a cost-benefit assessment model of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point implementation in commercial foodservice operations.
The HACCP preventative food safety program was developed nearly 30 years ago for astronauts and applies to the canned food industry, seafood, juice, milk, meat and poultry processing plants. Recent pilot programs have involved volunteer food companies producing cheese, frozen dough, breakfast cereals, salad dressing, bread, flour and other products.
Sharma's project will conduct research in casual dining restaurants, and grocery store and gas station food outlets. A total of 12 organizations will participate through their various units in Pennsylvania and Delaware. The central outcome of the project will be to develop a model that helps managers evaluate the costs of investing in HACCP implementation versus its potential benefits. It will also lead to the development of training modules for management and consumers.
"This is a comprehensive project in its approach and includes both foodservice management and consumer perspectives," said Sharma, the principal investigator for the grant. "Given the importance of food safety and HACCP for foodservice organizations and the novel approach of this research, its outcomes will help to fill a critical gap in foodservice management and consumer decision-making."
Other co-principal investigators are Anna Mattila and Arun Upneja, School of Hospitality Management in the College of Health and Human Development, and Catherine Cutter and Rama Radhakrishna, College of Agricultural Sciences, all at Penn State; Jeannie Sneed, Oklahoma State University; and Frode Alfnes, Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Also participating are Cynthia R. Mayo and Clorice D. Thomas-Haysbert, Delaware State University. The Survey Research Center at Penn State also will be a collaborator.
This press release courtesy of Penn State's Department of Public Information
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