Three faculty members in UNLV's William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration have received a $75,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to study the safety of food handling practices in the catering industry.

Assistant professors Deborah Barrash and Lesley Johnson, along with chef instructor Jean Hertzman, will serve as the principal investigators on the research, which will examine how food is handled during the preparation, transportation, and service at catered functions.

During the two-year project, they will work with undergraduate and graduate students from the college to test and observe employees from more than 70 local catering firms on their knowledge and practice of safe food handling procedures.

Once the study is complete, the results will be used to develop educational materials specifically designed for catering employees. These materials, which will be produced in both English and Spanish, will include training plans, instructional materials, and short tests, which will be available both in print and on the web.