001114 California Honors Jack in the Box for Food Safety

San Diego - While America prepares to induct a new president into office, folks at Jack in the Box Inc. already are celebrating a different kind of Inauguration Day. The company recently received the state of California's inaugural award for “outstanding leadership in food safety,” bestowed by the Food and Drug Branch of the California Department of Health Services.

The award, presented Oct. 17 in Sacramento, salutes Jack in the Box Inc. for its efforts to help the state of California adopt the uniform food-safety standards put forth by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The award also recognizes the company for helping the state draft a 1997 law requiring all restaurants to cook meat and eggs at specified temperatures to ensure safety.

The Department of Health Services said Jack in the Box Inc. goes beyond having its own top-notch systems for food safety: The company shares its food- safety systems with regulatory agencies and others in the industry so they can understand how it's done.

Lisa Wright, manager of regulatory affairs at Jack in the Box Inc., explained that the company works closely with health officials in all states where Jack in the Box(r) restaurants operate. The goal is to help those states adopt food-safety standards that are consistent with the FDA Food Code, a manual incorporating the latest scientific findings on food and food service.

“Regulatory agencies in the past have looked at us as being in the way, because our role as food-safety advocates is often to ask people to do things differently,” Wright said. “This award from the state of California is important because it validates our efforts. Jack in the Box is stepping up to the plate for retail food safety, and it's an honor to be recognized.”

In 1993, Jack in the Box Inc. implemented the fast-food industry's first comprehensive food-safety system, patterned after a NASA program intended to prevent astronauts in space from becoming ill. The program, called Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), was considered too complicated to install in a fast-food environment, until Jack in the Box achieved it. Since then, the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have lauded Jack in the Box as a model for the industry.

“When it comes to food safety, we have been trying to raise the bar for the entire fast-food industry, not just Jack in the Box restaurants,” said Dave Theno, Ph.D., vice president of technical services who implemented the company's HACCP systems. “We look forward to continuing to lead our industry and partnering with the regulatory community, moving toward the ultimate goal of giving safer products to fast-food consumers.”

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