Restaurant policies and practices related to norovirus outbreak size and duration

What is it about?

Norovirus is the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in the U.S. and restaurants are the most common setting for norovirus outbreaks. Therefore, prevention and control of foodborne norovirus outbreaks in restaurants is critical to lowering the burden of foodborne illness in the U.S. Data for 124 norovirus outbreaks and outbreak restaurants were analyzed to identify links between restaurant policies and practices and outbreak size and length. Restaurant policies and practices were linked with both outbreak size and length. Compared to their counterparts, restaurants that had smaller outbreaks had: managers with food safety certification; managers and workers with food safety training; workers that wore gloves; and cleaning policies. Restaurants with manager food safety training and fewer managers had shorter outbreaks compared to their counterparts. These findings suggest that restaurant policies and practices play a role in norovirus outbreak prevention and intervention.

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