Foodservice conditions in licensed urban and rural child care centers: An application of the National Health and Safety Performance Standards

Objectives: To assess the degree to which child care centers in urban and rural counties met foodservice standards as documented in the National Health and Safety Performance Standards; to determine if a difference in foodservice conditions existed between these two groups; to determine if the foodservice conditions at child care centers are related to the directors' perception of existing foodservice conditions or the importance of maintaining safe foodservice conditions, or previous environmental health inspection scores; to identify child care staffing needs.

Subjects: 36 urban and 34 rural child care centers in east Tennessee

Design: On-site assessment of food production facilities and interviews with food production staff members and center directors.

Statistical Analysis: Multivariate and analysis of variance were used to detect differences for assessed foodservice conditions, while Pearson Correlation described relationships. Frequencies were used to identify the training topics most requested by directors.

Results: There was no significant difference (F=0.00; p=0.9516) in the assessed foodservice conditions between urban (80.9 ± 4.8) and rural (80.8 ± 6.9) centers. A statistically significant difference (F=4.40; p=0.0397) was detected in the safe food storage sub-topic between rural (70.8 ± 12.5) and urban (65.1 ± 10.2) centers. Since assumptions for parametric tests were not met, a correlation could not be done between the assessed foodservice conditions and the directors' perception of the importance of maintaining safe foodservice conditions. There was a statistically significant (F=10.47; p<0.0001) difference in assessed foodservice conditions between directors who perceived them to be very good (78.5 ± 6.3) or average (77.8 ± 4.9). There was no statistically significant relationship between the assessed foodservice conditions and environmental health inspection scores (r=-0.14; p=0.4163). A majority of the directors (88.6%) believed there was a need for training that addressed safe foodservice practices; in particular safe food storage (90.0%), kitchen safety (87.1%) and chemical storage (85.7%).

Conclusions: Urban and rural centers maintain similar foodservice conditions. However, urban centers did score significantly lower than rural centers for one foodservice sub-topic, safe food storage, with a score of < 70%. The directors' perception of the existing foodservice conditions is related to the assessed conditions, although the application of this relationship is unknown. There is no statistically significant relationship between the assessed foodservice conditions and environmental health inspection scores. There is both a perceived and assessed need for foodservice training.

Applications: The National Health and Safety Performance Standards could be used as national standards applicable for child care centers in all 50 states. Foodservice topics in need of training include: safe food storage, kitchen safety and chemical storage.