Be prepared for a foodborne illness incident

Imagine one of your employees gets a call claiming customers got sick after eating at your restaurant. Would they know what to say, who to contact, or what information to gather? Would your managers know who to call, or when to involve regulatory authorities, crisis management pros or legal counsel? How would they handle media inquiries, or respond to a negative narrative circulating on social?

Pre-planning and a good blueprint for what to do if your establishment suspects a foodborne illness incident can have a big impact on the safety of your guests and employees and the ability of your business to weather the crisis.

The National Restaurant Association’s latest emergency preparedness guide, Always Ready: Foodborne Illness Outbreak, includes best practices from leading government resources including the FDA, CDC, the Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response, ServSafe®, and crisis comms professionals as well as tips from food safety experts and HR leads from independent restaurants and national brands. 

The free guide, the 3rd in the Association’s Always Ready series (following Always Ready: Natural Disasters and Always Ready: Fire) recommends best practices to follow in advance, during and to recover from an incident if your establishment suspects a foodborne illness outbreak.

Guidance includes:

• Leading causes of foodborne illness outbreaks and key prevention measures
• The importance of a establishing a crisis response team, including a designated lead/spokesperson
• Handling a complaint, including how to create a complaint form to gather critical information
• How to work with regulatory/health department officials to isolate the cause and rectify a breach
• Dos and don’ts when communicating with employees and guests
• Responding to the media and social media best practices

ServSafe’s National Food Safety Month, throughout September, follows Always Ready with a deep-dive into foodborne illness outbreak prevention, explaining how infectious pathogens grow and spread, the food safety practices that can help prevent them, and the best means to build these safe food handling practices into a culture of food safety. Mark your calendars to check in at foodsafetyfocus.org for prevention tips and free training aid each week.