An assessment of the ability of routine restaurant inspections to predict food-borne outbreaks in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

OBJECTIVES

This study sought to determine the usefulness of restaurant inspections in predicting food-borne outbreaks in Miami-Dade County, Fla.

METHODS

Inspection reports of restaurants with outbreaks in 1995 (cases; n = 51) were compared with those of randomly selected restaurants that had no reported outbreaks (controls; n = 76).

RESULTS

Cases and controls did not differ by overall inspection outcome or mean number of critical violations. Only 1 critical violation--evidence of vermin--was associated with outbreaks (odds ratio = 3.3; 95% confidence interval = 1.1, 13.1).

CONCLUSIONS

Results of restaurant inspections in Miami-Dade County did not predict outbreaks. If these findings are representative of the situation in other jurisdictions, inspection practices may need to be updated.