Article | Harvard Business Review (website) | May 16, 2019

To Improve Food Inspections, Change the Way They're Scheduled

by Maria Ibanez and Michael W. Toffel

Abstract

Health inspections are an important tool to increase food safety, but there are still 48 million cases of food-borne illnesses and 128,000 hospitalizations every year in the United States. Our research finds that inspectors reported fewer health code violations as they conducted subsequent inspections throughout the day, and even fewer violations at inspections that risked prolonging their work day. Also, inspectors reported more code violations when the previous establishment the inspector visited had many violations. Based on these patterns, we propose scheduling adjustments that would increase inspectors’ scrutiny and significantly reduce food-borne illnesses and hospitalizations.

Keywords: inspection; scheduling; Food; Safety; Health; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Performance Improvement;

Format: Electronic Read Now

Citation:

Ibanez, Maria, and Michael W. Toffel. "To Improve Food Inspections, Change the Way They're Scheduled." Harvard Business Review (website) (May 16, 2019).

About the Author

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Michael W. Toffel
Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management
Technology and Operations Management

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