• On June 20, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its report on the Occurrence of Foodborne Illness Risk Factors in Fast Food and Full-Service Restaurants.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than half of foodborne illness outbreaks that occur each year are linked to food from restaurants.

• The report summarizes FDA’s findings from the 2017-2018 data collection, and is part of FDA’s 10-year (2013-2022) study on trends in foodborne illness risk factors and food safety behaviors and practices in food service facilities.  The results from the 10-year study are used to develop retail food safety initiatives, policies, and targeted intervention strategies focused on controlling foodborne illness risk factors.

• Risk factors are food preparation practices that can contribute to outbreaks of foodborne illness, such as inadequate cooking, poor personal hygiene, or using food from unsafe sources.  According to the report, the two most commonly occurring foodborne illness risk factors were improper holding time and temperature, and poor personal hygiene.  However, the study showed that having a well-developed Food Safety Management System (FSMS) is the strongest predictor that these risk factors would be minimized.

• Findings in this report are likely to guide future changes in FDA’s Model Food Code.