Description
Public health is expected to be adversely affected by climate change. One aspect is rising temperatures that will directly and indirectly impact the biological mechanisms that propagate the spread of disease. Future summer heat waves are projected to increase in frequency, intensity, and duration, reaching historic temperatures by the end of the century. While previous studies have found links between increased ambient temperatures and increased cases of foodborne illness, the role of critical temperature violations in retail food facilities has not been clearly established. Improper hot and cold holding temperatures of potentially hazardous foods is one of the 5 major predictors of foodborne illness according to the CDC. In this study the association between daily maximum temperatures over the 2 year study period of 2013-2014 and holding temperature violations was examined. Inspection and violation data for the 2-year period was obtained from the County of San Diego's Department of Environmental Health. When rates of temperature violations were examined, days with maximum temperatures greater or equal to 20°C, 25°C, and 30°C were associated with higher rates of violations (p<0.05). In analysis by season, the combined summer months of June, July, and August had significantly higher rates of temperature violations per inspection in comparison to the remaining months of the year (p<0.001). As San Diego has episodes of extreme hot weather (e.g. Santa Ana winds) in winter months as well, an analysis was conducted to determine if unusually hot days (as compared to the historical average maximum temperature) of the 2 study years were associated with a greater rate of violations, however, no association was found. In a nation where restaurants play a large role in consumer culture, environmental changes impacting food safety maintenance of retail food facilities have the potential to adversely affect the state of public health. This study, while being limited in a the lack of a direct assessment of cold holding temperature violations, suggests that future efforts should be focused on increased surveillance and better monitoring of food-handling practices that prevent the propagation of diseases attributed to retail food facilities affected by the changing state of the environment.
