Concealed kitchen conduct: observations of restaurant kitchens by waitpersons

摘要

With more than 75 million persons contracting foodborne illnesses per year in the United States (CDC, 2001), we must assess the extent of food safety violations, especially in public establishments where diners have no choice but to trust employees to follow appropriate food safety practices. While the general public lacks concrete data about infractions occurring behind closed doors of restaurant kitchens, an abundance of food-related urban legends--though often false--reveals the public's anxietyabout the potential for restaurant food contamination (e.g., the Kentucky Fried Rat legend [Brunvand, 1984; Clements, 1991; Domowitz, 1979]). Much of what we do know about the violation of food safety standards in restaurants is from data amassed by health inspectors (see e.g., Cotterchio et al, 1998; Mathias el al, 1995; also see Bourdain, 2000, for an alternative view).