EHS-Net Partners - Tennessee

The Tennessee Department of Health is an EHS-Net research and practice partner. The Tennessee EHS-Net program is working on two food research projects, one food practice project, and two water projects in FY 2010-2015.

Analysis of Grocery Store Survey Data

This EHS-Net project will provide baseline data for 230 grocery stores in Davidson County. Data from the project will be used to

• Understand the potential risks and food safety challenges in retail settings in order to design future food safety and environmental studies in the grocery store and market setting.
• Identify any association between risk score (through data collected and predefined FDA risk categorization) and the size and number of services offered by the grocery stores.

Tennessee staff will analyze data on grocery stores to provide descriptive data on

• Number of employees.
• Type of ownership.
• Management certification.
• Departments and services offered.

A paper summarizing the project, Assessed Food Safety Risks Associated With Grocery Stores, was published in 2016.

Prevention of Repeat Revocation of Establishment Operator Permits

This EHS-Net project will develop interventions to help food service establishments prevent repeated revocations of operator permits due to recurring food safety violations.

Tennessee staff will evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. Staff will collect, analyze, and compare data on two groups of establishments with revoked permits: those that participated in the intervention and those that did not. Staff will review data including the establishments’

• Inspection history.
• Food safety training history.
• Owner and employee demographics.

Staff will follow establishments for at least 1 year to see if their permits are revoked.

Water Projects

The Tennessee Department of Health is working on two projects related to water wells and water distribution in middle Tennessee:

• A comparison of land use, surface water, and socioeconomic status against cryptosporidiosis.
• A project to map the location of water wells and onsite sewage.