Association Between Equipment Maintenance Violations in Food Service Establishments and Their Risk Level According to the Ohio Administrative Code in Cincinnati, Ohio

This study analyzed food service inspection data from July 2015-June 2016 for the food safety program of the Cincinnati Health Department to evaluate the presence of significant differences on equipment maintenance violations (EMVs) by geographic location. The primary research question was: Do food service establishments (FSEs) vary in their odds of incurring an EMV depending upon their risk level when compared across the socioeconomic status of their physical location? We used a chi-square test to check if there was a difference in the distribution of EMVs regarding the risk class of FSEs and performed a logistic regression analysis to reveal the effect of risk class and socioeconomic status in FSEs receiving EMVs. We found a significant difference in the distribution of businesses receiving an EMV among different risk class categories. Moving from the highest to lowest risk class, the proportion of FSEs that have received at least one EMV decreases steadily. Compared with risk class 4 (the highest), the odds ratio of receiving an EMV for risk class 1 was 0.12, risk class 2 was 0.13, and risk class 3 was 0.41. Geographical mapping of risk class and receiving an EMV showed the same pattern in which census tracts with a higher proportion of risk dass 4 FSEs have a higher percentage of receiving EMVs.