Integrated Quality Prediction Model for Food Quality Management Based on E. coli in Shared Kitchens

Abstract

Shared kitchens have a lower entry barrier than traditional kitchens, which generally require a significant initial investment, and have thus attracted attention as the most realistic new business model for restaurants in the sharing economy. The restaurant industry is founded on ensuring the safety of the food it serves in order to prevent the spread of foodborne diseases within the community, so strict quality control is essential. Existing food quality management typically employs continuous quality assistance, which is difficult to apply to the highly volatile shared kitchen environment and its various stakeholders. Therefore, in this study, a predictive model for managing food quality that can monitor volatility using quantitative indicators, especially microbial counts, is proposed. Stakeholder- and quality-related factors associated with shared kitchens are first defined, then a modified Gompertz growth curve and the transfer rate equation are used to quantify them. The proposed model, utilizing E. coli as a practical indicator for easily measuring changes in general environments, can be used to systematically manage food quality within the shared kitchen industry, thus supporting the establishment of this new business model.