A recent study that was published in the November issue of the Journal of Food Protection shows that the presence of a Certified Kitchen Manager in a restaurant was significantly associated with better food safety.

From a press release:

The findings ‘suggest that the presence of a CKM reduces the risk for an outbreak and was the major distinguishing factor between the outbreak and nonoutbreak restaurants,’ the report says. In particular, CKMs seemed to be associated with a lower risk of outbreaks linked to norovirus and Clostridium perfringens, two of the three most common outbreak pathogens. Also, bare-hand contact with food was less likely to be a factor in outbreaks in restaurants that had CKMs.

Most restaurants, regardless of outbreak history, relied on on-the-job food safety training for workers, the authors found. They surmised that CKMs probably improved the quality of this training, leading to less bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat foods and better control of food temperatures.”

The study is available here for a $30 fee.