Beneficial effects of implementing an announced restaurant inspection program.

* Active managerial control emphasizes a preventive approach to food safety.

* It encourages restaurant operators to identify and control hazards specific to their establishment.

* The food safety program of Minneapolis Environmental Health initiated an active managerial control-based, announced inspection program in June 2002.

* The goal was to provide restaurant operators with the information, tools, and support they need to manage food safety challenges.

* Each facility receives two inspections per year: an announced inspection followed by an unannounced inspection.

* The announced inspections begin with an in-depth interview.

* During the interview, the environmental health specialist seeks

-- to better understand the food safety hazards specific to the establishment,

-- assess the person-in-charge's understanding of foodborne-illness risks, and

-- move the person-in-charge toward active control of these risk factors.

* A standard walk-through inspection follows the interview.

* The person-in-charge receives a copy of the inspection report detailing the violations cited.

* The second, unannounced inspection is conducted to ensure that the issues identified during the announced inspection have been addressed.

* Results from the program were analyzed retrospectively.

* The authors compared results for restaurants that received announced inspections with results for restaurants that received only routine unannounced inspections.

* This comparison demonstrated several important benefits from the announced inspections:

-- The ratio of critical to noncritical violations cited during and following the announced inspections shifted to emphasize critical violations.

-- Critical violations directly related to food safety constituted four out of the top five violations cited during announced inspections.

-- Restaurant operators expressed favorable attitudes.

-- Performance of restaurants that had undergone an announced inspection improved during routine unannounced inspections.

* Surprisingly, the study also found an increase in foodborne-illness complaints about restaurants that had received announced inspections.

* A reduction in the risk of foodborne-illness transmission could be expected to be accompanied by a reduction in foodborne-illness complaints.

* But the Minneapolis Environmental Health complaint database relies on self-reporting by restaurants and restaurant patrons.

* During their interviews with restaurant operators, Minneapolis environmental health specialists have stressed the importance of illness reporting.

* Thus, the increased rate of complaints could reflect greater awareness on the part of restaurant operators.

This department, Practical Stuff! originated from you, our readers. Many of you have expressed to us that one of the main reasons you read the Journal of Environmental Health is to glean practical and useful information for your everyday work-related activities. In response to your feedback, we dedicate this section to you with salient points to remember about two to three articles in each issue.