Table 4. Bivariate analysis of food safety and ground beef preparation practices by restaurant ownership typea.
| Interview item | No. (%) of independent restaurants | No. (%) of chain restaurants | Odds ratio (95% CI) | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General food safety practices | ||||
| A minimum of one manager was a certified food manager | 190/247 (77) | 114/122 (93) | 0.23 (0.11–0.51) | <0.001 |
| Employees required to report gastrointestinal illness to a manager | 171/253 (68) | 101/126 (80) | 0.52 (0.31–0.86) | 0.011 |
| Temperature practices | ||||
| Measured with thermometer the final cook temperature of hamburgers | 43/255 (17) | 43/127 (34) | 0.40 (0.24–0.65) | <0.001 |
| Determined doneness by color (internal appearance) | 135/255 (53) | 55/127 (43) | 1.47 (0.96–2.26) | 0.076 |
| Determined doneness by way it looks (external appearance) | 164/256 (64) | 71/127 (56) | 1.41 (0.91–2.17) | 0.123 |
| Determined doneness by feel or texture | 107/254 (42) | 34/127 (27) | 1.99 (1.25–3.17) | 0.003 |
| Determined doneness by color, look, or texture (aggregate variable) | 217/257 (84) | 94/127 (74) | 1.90 (1.13–3.21) | 0.015 |
| Measured with thermometer the temperature of fresh ground beef when delivered to restaurant | 36/170 (21) | 18/57 (32) | 0.58 (0.30–1.14) | 0.11 |
| Cooked hamburgers patties from frozen or partially frozen state | 66/256 (26) | 49/127 (39) | 0.55 (0.35–0.87) | 0.010 |
| Cooked hamburger patties and held for later service | 9/256 (4) | 21/127 (17) | 0.18 (0.08–0.41) | <0.001 |
| Served rare or medium-rare hamburgers upon customer request | 141/254 (56) | 50/126 (40) | 1.90 (1.23–2.93) | 0.004 |
| Practices that could lead to cross-contamination | ||||
| Ground hamburger in restaurant | 6/256 (2) | 2/127 (2) | 1.50 (0.30–7.53) | 1.000 |
| Formed hamburger patties in restaurant | 77/256 (30) | 11/127 (9) | 4.54 (2.31–8.90) | <0.001 |
| Washed hands between handling raw ground beef and cooked ground beef or RTE foods | 78/127 (61) | 41/65 (63) | 0.93 (0.50–1.73) | 0.823 |
| Used same utensils (without washing, rinsing, sanitizing) or gloves (without changing) on raw ground beef and RTE foods | 59/143 (41) | 29/97 (30) | 1.65 (0.95–2.85) | 0.074 |
| Used same utensils (without washing, rinsing, sanitizing) or gloves (without changing) on raw ground beef and cooked ground beef | 72/150 (48) | 32/97 (33) | 1.88 (1.10–3.19) | 0.020 |
| Wiped hands on either wiping cloths or aprons after handling raw ground beef (without hand washing between) | 68/138 (49) | 25/96 (26) | 2.76 (1.57–4.85) | <0.001 |
a
Because of missing data from nonresponse, denominators differ among practices. cooked and held for later service less often than did managers of quick-service restaurants.