September is National Food Safety Month, and the National Restaurant Association is offering free, downloadable resources to help operators reinforce the importance of food safety to staff members.

The 2019 National Food Safety Month theme, “Controlling Risk: The Elements of a Food Safety Management System,” kicked off September 1 in order to help operators ensure ongoing education and adherence to a food safety plan with a strong food-safety management system.

Through its Food Safety Focus website, the National Restaurant Association provides education aids such as free training activities, quizzes, and posters operators can use to reinforce proper food safety practices and procedures at their businesses. The campaign will also help drive home how important it is to have a food safety management system in place.

“The Food and Drug Administration’s Risk Factor Study indicates that having a well-developed food safety management system is the strongest predictor that an operation will have fewer occurrences of foodborne illness issues,” says Sherman Brown, the Association’s executive vice president of training and certification. “This year we’re emphasizing the importance of having a solid food safety management system as a framework for keeping guests, employees, and the business safe.”