IAFP 2004
Black Pearl Award Winner
Jack in the Box Inc.
San Diego, California
Jack in the Box Inc., the nation’s first major drive-thru
hamburger chain, operates and franchises more than 1,959 Jack in
the Box (JIB) and more than 130 Qdoba Mexican Grill restaurants
in 32 states. Headquartered in San Diego, the company has more than
45,000 employees.
A 1993 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak at Jack in the Box not only changed
the way JIB does business but changed the scope of research worldwide
and the way the USDA evaluates products. This significant change
in research and evaluation brought Jack in the Box from the brink
of destruction to the forefront of food safety.
The Jack in the Box Web site (www.jack inthebox.com) devotes a
section to Food Safety and provides information on its HACCP and
food safety programs. The Web site also allows guests to communicate
via E-mail with any questions or concerns they have. All comments/questions
from the Internet are answered within 48 hours by E-mail, letter,
or direct call as necessary to ensure that guest satisfaction is
achieved.
As an employer, JIB provides an environment that fosters personal
and professional growth. As a restaurant chain, JIB offers a diverse
menu of burgers, sandwiches, and salads that guests know are freshly
made, delicious and safe to eat. As a business, JIB adheres to the
highest standards of professional conduct and best practices, which
contributes to higher levels of safety and productivity. And as
a good neighbor, JIB strengthens its restaurant communities by supporting
and implementing a variety of local, regional and system-wide initiatives.
In 1993, JIB developed and implemented a production-to-consumption
HACCP-based food safety system that is considered the gold standard
for food-service companies. To further help ensure that products
and procedures are designed to minimize food safety risks in the
restaurants, JIB suppliers must also maintain HACCP systems and
process–improvement programs.
All processing plants and distribution centers are monitored at
least yearly through JIB or third-party audits. The plant audits
are comprehensive and cover food safety programs, facility exterior
and interior, receiving and storage of raw materials, product processing,
storing and shipping, control of non-conforming pro-duct, sanitation
and Good Manufacturing Practices, product evaluation and reporting
systems, and continuous process improvements. Quality assurance
monitors vendor HACCP programs, recall programs and shift production
records. There is a hold and release program for all protein products
used in restaurants. Ingredient shipments are temperature monitored.
A risk-based microbiological, chemical and physical sampling program
checks incoming finished product and there is an hourly handwashing
and sanitizing program for employees as part of the restaurant-managed
HACCP system.
JIB has the most aggressive ground beef microbiological-surveillance
program in the industry, involving strict sampling protocol for
beef raw materials and 15-minute lot sampling. There are internal
and external programs to measure food quality, cleanliness, guest
service and food-safety execution.
Equipment used in restaurants includes extra handwash sinks and
sanitizer stations in all new and remodeled restaurants. Smallwares
all meet NSF standards. The corporate office systems monitor refrigerators
and freezers in restaurants hourly. Special JIB-developed towels
are used to control the correct sanitizer concentration, and automated,
air-gapped, chemical-dispensing units are utilized for strength
consistency.
Food safety training at all levels is key to consistent execution
of JIB programs. In restaurants, a new interactive system of computer-based
training (CBT) will replace each restaurant’s library of videotapes
with a touch-screen computer terminal. Incorporating audio, video,
animation and text — all of which are updated on the computer
via satellite technology — CBT
is designed to cultivate happier, better-trained employees while
minimizing individual time commitments for restaurant managers.
The CBT terminals will be installed in all company restaurants by
the end of 2004. CBT will be the standard for new-hire, management,
new product training programs, and workstation re-certifications.
In addition to JIB training, all regional vice presidents, area
managers, restaurant managers, assistant managers, and shift leaders
must be certified through the ServSafe® training program. All
people working in the corporate office who deal with restaurants
have also achieved certification through the ServSafe® Program
that has achieved national accreditation by the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI).
As an example of a firmly held belief that food safety knowledge
serves everyone, JIB freely shares its proprietary food safety programs,
forms, preferred supplier criteria, distribution systems, and microbiology
testing protocols with competitors, the regulatory community, and
all others who wish to learn from them. The company has also actively
supported state and national initiatives such as:
• participation on the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
2003 Food Safety Summit and Exposition;
• California Uniform Retail Food Facilities Law (CURFFL)
requiring mandatory minimum cooking temperatures;
• mandatory reporting of illnesses associated with E. coli
O157:H7;
• adoption of the 1997/1999 FDA Model Food Code by all states;
and
• participation on The National Advisory Committee on Microbiological
Criteria for Foods.
For more than 10 years, suppliers for Jack in the Box have never
had a recall, and JIB remains an industry leader at a time of heightened
food safety concerns. A system that was viewed as revolutionary
a decade ago remains among the strongest food safety controls in
food processing. JIB under-stands far more than most how tragic
a foodborne illness outbreak can be. The company’s ability
to identify invisible killers continues to improve through the pain-staking
work of research physicians, geneticists, virologists, epidemiologists,
and sanitarians. JIB strives to prevent foodborne outbreaks form
occurring by continuing to develop and implement interventions at
every link of the food supply chain, from production facilities
to JIB restaurants and they are proud to help prevent such out-breaks
form occurring elsewhere by freely sharing their knowledge with
others.
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