Pre- and post-implementation assessment of Menu-Safe® on food safety compliance in restaurant chains in Emirate of Ajman, United Arab Emirates

Layla Alhosani; Khaled Abass

doi:10.55779/nsb18212924

Authors

Layla Alhosani University of Sharjah, College of Health Sciences, Environmental Health Sciences Department, P.O. Box 27272, Sharjah (AE)
Khaled Abass University of Sharjah, College of Health Sciences, Environmental Health Sciences Department, P.O. Box 27272, Sharjah (AE) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1843-7644

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55779/nsb18212924

Keywords:

food safety management, food safety training, HACCP, Menu-Safe®, operational performance

Abstract

This study evaluated the implementation of the Menu-Safe®, a simplified HACCP-based system in restaurant chains in Emirate of Ajman, United Arab Emirates, to assess its effects on food safety knowledge, microbiological compliance and operational performance. A field-based pre- and post-implementation design was used. Seven restaurant entities were included, with one branch selected from each entity. The intervention involved baseline assessment, Menu-Safe® training, system implementation, post-implementation monitoring and final evaluation. Data were collected using a 12-item questionnaire administered to managers and assistant managers, microbiological analysis of food and swab samples and structured Menu-Safe® audits. Thirteen participants completed the questionnaire, and 160 microbiological samples were analyzed. Data were examined using descriptive statistics, the Shapiro-Wilk test and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Questionnaire scores improved significantly after implementation, increasing from a mean of 0.4231 to 0.9231, indicating marked gains in HACCP-related knowledge, confidence and supervisory capability. Microbiological compliance was high at baseline and reached full satisfactory classification after implementation, although the overall statistical change was not significant. Audit outcomes showed substantial and statistically significant improvement across all major domains, including SOP documentation, record keeping, GHP observation, management observation and HACCP observation. The study was limited by the small sample size and the inclusion of only selected restaurant branches. Future research should include larger samples and longer follow-up to assess sustainability. The findings suggest that Menu-Safe® can strengthen documentation, monitoring and operational compliance in restaurant chains under real working conditions. The findings provide preliminary evidence that Menu-Safe®, a simplified HACCP-based system, implementation was associated with improvements in food safety knowledge, audit performance, and operational compliance in the participating branches.

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