Food Safety Grading System and Excellence Program Survey

An Accommodations or Housing Facility includes, but is not limited to, publicly funded continuing care homes (long-term care, designated supportive living and hospice), supportive living accommodations, community housing, seniors self-contained housing (ages 65+), seniors lodges (ages 65+) and special needs housing. This does not include private dwellings where an individual provides care or services only to the individual’s family members or friends.

A Commercial Food Establishment is a business with a Food Handling Permit in Alberta. Examples include, but are not limited to, restaurants, cafés, grocery stores, catering companies and hotels that serve food.

An Emergency Shelter is a facility that provides year-round, short-term accommodation and basic needs support for adults and families.

A Food Bank is a non-profit organization collecting and distributing donated food to individuals and families facing food insecurities.

A Licensed Facility-Based Child Care Facility includes daycares, preschools and out-of-school care. It does not include licensed home-based care (e.g., family day homes) or unlicensed child care (e.g., nannies, private day homes or informal arrangements with friends, neighbours or family).

A Residential Facility or Program is a designated protective safe house for children, child and/or adult residential addiction treatment services program, group home or secure services facility.

A School is a public school, charter school, private school or Early Childhood Services program.

A Staff Member is someone who works with food, including selling, preparing, storing, or transporting food. This includes managers, supervisors, child care providers and adult care providers.

If you are associated with more than one business, provide the postal code and municipality type for your primary location.

A mandatory Food Safety Inspection Grading System (‘Grading System’) gives a food establishment a grade based on how well it follows food safety requirements under the Public Health Act, Food Regulation and Food Retail and Foodservices Code (e.g., their compliance with food safety requirements). Compliance with food safety requirements is measured during site inspections by public health inspectors. Examples of grading systems include Toronto’s DineSafe Model and Los Angeles County’s Food Safety Grading Program.

A grading system typically requires all food establishments to participate and post their grade in a visible place (e.g., on a front window or door). Grades may be shown in different ways:

• Symbols: 😄🙂😐☹️
• Scores: 1, 2, 3
• Letters: A, B, C
• Colours: Green, Yellow, Red
• Words: Pass, Conditional, Fail

Posting inspection grades in a visible place would help the public better understand how a food establishment meets food safety requirements and could encourage stronger food safety practices.

However, inspection grades can sometimes be misunderstood. A grade reflects what was observed during a specific inspection and may not fully represent an establishment’s day-to-day practices or overall commitment to food safety.

A Food Safety Violation happens when a food establishment does not follow food safety requirements in line with the Public Health Act, Food Regulation and the Food Retail and Foodservices Code. A violation can be critical (high-risk) or non-critical (lower risk).

Examples of violations include improper facility construction, failing to maintain safe food temperatures, pest infestations, and improper cleaning and sanitizing of equipment, utensils and surfaces.

Food Safety Culture is the shared knowledge, values, skills and behaviours within all levels of an organization that create and maintain a safe food environment. A strong or positive food safety culture means everyone in the organization makes food safety a daily priority.

A voluntary Food Safety Culture Excellence Recognition Program (‘Excellence Program’) would publicly recognize and reward Alberta food establishments who show positive food safety culture and exceed basic food safety regulation compliance.

A voluntary Excellence Program could be an alternative to a mandatory food safety inspection grading system. To participate, food establishments would need to meet certain eligibility requirements, such as:

• Being a licensed commercial food establishment in Alberta,
• Holding a valid Food Handling Permit for at least 12 months, and
• Maintaining a food safety compliance record for the past 12 months.

Participating establishments may also need to show evidence of strong food safety practices to be recognized for excellence, for example:

• Having an employee illness (sick) policy,
• Committing to an ongoing education and training plan for staff and volunteers who handle and serve food,
• Having processes for collecting safe and helpful feedback on food safety, or
• Having action response plans to address food safety issues identified during inspections by public health inspectors and or through internal or management reviews.

Anticipated participant benefits of an Excellence Program may include:

• Excellence awards for public display,
• Reputational advantage, potentially increasing customer trust and patronage, and
• Improved food safety and hygiene practices among staff.

To be eligible for the Excellence Program, a food establishment may need to meet certain eligibility requirements, such as:

• Be a licensed commercial food establishment in Alberta,
• Hold a valid Food Handling Permit for at least 12 months, and
• Meet all required food safety training in accordance with Section 31 of the Food Regulation.

Potential benefits for those in the program may include:

• Recognition of food safety culture excellence on the Government of Alberta website,
• Printable certificate to display food safety excellence, and
• Visible stamp or logo on inspection reports to highlight food safety excellence.

Food Safety Culture is the shared knowledge, values, skills and behaviours within all levels of an organization that create and maintain a safe food environment. A strong or positive food safety culture means everyone in the organization makes food safety a daily priority.

Food establishments interested in the program may provide documents or other evidence that show they are promoting a positive food safety culture. Positive food safety culture could be measured through several ‘Food Safety Culture Measures’.

• Measure 1: Posting clear statements/pledges (e.g., written commitments) to food safety culture from all staff, management and owners in a place where customers can see.
  • The purpose of posting written commitments is to provide a visible indication that businesses intend to support and maintain a positive food safety culture. This aligns with recommendation A.1.2 of the Review Panel.
  • The public posting of a written commitment is intended to communicate the food safety values of a business. It is not meant to provide a definitive or comprehensive list of how a business plans to maintain a culture of food safety.
• Measure 2: Having an employee illness (sick) policy
• Measure 3: Committing to an ongoing education and training plan above and beyond legislative requirements for all staff and volunteers who handle and serve food. Examples of people who may handle or serve food include chefs, cooks, servers and bartenders.
• Measure 4: Have food safety documents and/or instructions for the establishment that include actions to fix issues, as necessary. Examples may include cleaning schedules, food temperature records, pest control records and using older products first (e.g., using a ‘First In, First Out’ system).
• Measure 5: Having clear roles and accountabilities that describe the responsibilities and actions for all team members, including families and volunteers in child care facilities, in supporting and maintaining food safety.
• Measure 6: Having a safe way for employees and customers to provide helpful feedback on food safety.
• Measure 7: Keeping records that show how a business reviews and improves food safety activities within their establishment (e.g., internal audit documentation) such as cleanliness, hygiene, procedures, and storage practices.
• Measure 8: Having action response plans to respond to food safety issues identified during inspections by staff or management.
• Measure 9: Reading and evaluating customer complaints related to food safety and recording what has been done to address customer concerns.
• Measure 10: Having policies and practices for recognition of good food safety practices among staff.

Provide your contact information below if you are interested in participating further in future engagement opportunities about:

• Implementing a Grading System or Excellence Program.
• Other Food Safety and Licensed Facility-Based Child Care Review Panel recommendations (e.g., resource development, reporting tools, food safety culture training or rollout planning)

This could involve in-person or virtual meetings.