Exceeding our guests' high expectations for food quality and safety is a priority at Jack in the Box®. In 1993, we introduced a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) based system for the management of food safety at all Jack in the Box restaurants. The first of its kind in our industry, this science-based food-safety management system incorporates all phases of food handling and preparation to ensure our guests receive a safe meal.
Our food-safety systems extend to our ingredient suppliers and distributors as well. Each must maintain a HACCP-based food-safety program to ensure the safety of ingredients supplied to us. We verify their performance through on-site audits conducted by our quality assurance staff or independent third-party auditors certified in the areas of food safety. Microbiological performance and product compliance to specification are constantly monitored.
The quality assurance lab at Jack in the Box regularly samples ingredients from our suppliers, distributors and restaurants to verify compliance to product specifications, including microbiological, chemical, physical, organoleptic and visual analysis. These evaluations continually measure our food-safety systems performance and ensure the safety of our ingredients.
At our restaurants, the HACCP and food-safety systems verify that proper food preparation and handling procedures are taking place every shift, every day, every week. By managing our products' critical control points, we can identify and eliminate any opportunity for risk to our guests. Throughout each work shift, management personnel verify that all workstations meet cleanliness standards and that established product-safety procedures are being followed. These checks verify critical items such as correct temperatures, proper use of food preparation tools, cross-contamination prevention, and continual practice of proper employee health and hygiene.
In addition to our management training programs and our food-safety systems, Jack in the Box uses ServSafe®, a nationally recognized food-safety training and certification program administered in partnership with the National Restaurant Association. All restaurant management staff must be ServSafe certified. Managers, grill employees and fryer employees all receive special certification training and must be re-certified annually.
Our food-quality and safety program has been recognized as the most comprehensive system in the industry. In 2004, Jack in the Box received the Black Pearl Award from the International Association for Food Protection, as well as the NSF Food-Safety Leadership Award, for its outstanding food-safety achievements. In addition to awards and accolades, the company's food-safety program and staff have been the focus of numerous magazine articles, including a recent case study in Food Safety Magazine highlighting Jack in the Box's pioneering efforts in food safety.
Jack in the Box is a member of the International Food Safety Council, a coalition of industry members of the National Restaurant Association that have demonstrated a corporate commitment to food safety. We work hand in hand with state and local regulatory officials to measure how our restaurants are meeting all public health and food-safety requirements.
The food-safety program at Jack in the Box has demonstrated success. Jack in the Box does not believe food safety is a point of competition. Over the life of our program we have and will continue to share our food-safety knowledge with competitors, the regulatory community, similar industry members, academia and others.