Evaluating the Effectiveness of Traditional Training Methods in Non-Traditional Training Programs for Adult Learners through a Pre-Test/Post-Test Comparison of Food Safety Knowledge

The incorporation of hot and cold food bars into grocery stores in an effort to capture a portion of the home meal replacement industry is presenting new challenges for retail food establishments. To ensure retail success and customer safety, employees need to be educated in food safety practices. Traditional methods of training are not meeting the needs of the retail food industry. Although many food safety training programs exist, few meet the educational needs of hot and cold food bar employees. In an effort to determine the effectiveness of traditional training methods for employees, a quasi-experimental study was performed. Data was collected from three separate chains within the retail food industry from six geographical locations. The pre-post assessment study utilized an interventional training and included collecting questionnaires from 300 employees. Findings of the study described characteristics of employees within each chain individually and collectively. Food safety knowledge was assessed by comparing pre-training and post-training assessments for managerial and non-managerial employees. The most important finding for this study was determining the change in essential food safety knowledge of employees after traditional food safety training was conducted for managerial employees within the treatment stores and comparing that change to the change that occurred in the control groups.