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ServSafe Employee and Manager Certification
| Name | Marilyn Peters | | Situation | More than 200 known diseases are transmitted through food. The causes of foodborne illness include viruses, bacteria, parasites, toxins, metals, and prions. The symptoms of foodborne illness range from mild gastroenteritis to life-threatening neurologic, hepatic, and renal syndromes. According to the Centers for Disease Control, foodborne diseases cause approximately 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year. Many cases of foodborne illness result when food is improperly handled in restaurants and other foodservice facilities. This is due partially to the lack of training for workers in a profession characterized by lower levels of education and a high turnover rate for employees. | | Response | Clemson Extension and the National Restaurant Association developed a training and certification program for both foodservice employees and managers. The employee course is designed for food handlers working in
restaurants, schools, grocery stores, day care centers, nursing homes or anywhere food is served. The training is open also to organizations or groups that prepare and serve foods on an occasional basis such as churches, clubs, civic organizations, and vendors for fairs and festivals.
ServSafe uses materials developed by the Educational Foundation
of the National Restaurant Association and is the industry standard
in food safety education. Topics covered include: food safety basics; proper hygiene; purchasing, receiving and storing food; preparing, cooking and serving food; and cleaning and sanitizing.
Topics for the Employee Training typically include Starting Out with Food
Safety, Ensuring Proper Personal Hygiene, Purchasing, Storing & Receiving, Preparing, Cooking & Serving Cleaning and Sanitizing.
The Managers training is a two-day course which covers:
• Challenges to Food Safety
• Developing a HACCP Food Safety System
• The Flow of Food
• Maintaining Sanitary Facilities and Equipment
• National Certification Exam
• Train-the-trainer Workshop and EmployeeTraining Materials
This certification course uses material from the Educational
Foundation of the National Restaurant Association (NRA) and is taught by Clemson University faculty who are certified as instructor trainers by the NRA. Guest speakers and lab activities are incorporated into the course. During 2005-2006, I conducted ServSafe Certification Trainings for the following groups:
Burger King, Walterboro
KFC, Walterboro
SIFT (school foodservice organization), Summerville
Managers’ Training, Charleston
Courtyard Marriott, Charleston
Fowler Hospitality, Columbia
Thunderbolt Career & Technology Center, Walterboro | | Impact | Of the 125 participants, 73 passed the pre-test and 124 passed the final exam, obtaining ServSafe Certification. Fully 100% stated that they gained new knowledge at the training, and 99.8% said they would use in their jobs the information they had learned. |
Last update5/9/2008
This website is maintained by Amy West.
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