Epic Changes Lead to an Epic Form

Introducing UL’s EPIC Form

Our experts designed the EPIC Form to follow the FDA’s most current Model Food Code (MFC) 2017.

The violation numbers and severities also follow the FDA’s code and form.  The severity levels and point value associated with each are as follows:

• Critical violations (Cr) = 15-point deduction
• Major violations (Maj) = five-point deduction
• Minor violations (Min) = one-point deduction

Scoring

There are a total of 180 possible points and the overall audit numerical score is a percentage of violation points vs. total points possible. Scoring occurs at each violation level. Where there are multiple severity outcomes within a violation, the highest severity that is marked within that violation number is the maximum points deducted. For example, if violation #16 Food Contact Surfaces: Cleaned and Sanitized has several violations marked where all three severities are checked (Cr+Maj+Min), the points deducted would yield only the highest severity of 15 points (the Cr violation deduction) and NOT the cumulation all of the severities adding within the violation.  For example, adding all severities would yield a 21-point deduction, but the EPIC scoring system only deducts the highest severity level.  Local health departments score at the violation level, and so do we.

The scoring matrix provides three options to interpret the results:

• A breakdown of the number of violations by severity
• A numerical score
• A color-coded scheme corresponding to a traffic light
  • Green (well-controlled)
  • Yellow (needs improvement)
  • Red (unsatisfactory)

Overall scores of:

• 90-100 will yield a green, well-controlled rating
• 80-89 will yield a yellow, needs improvement rating
• 79 or lower will yield a red, unsatisfactory rating

Local health officials across the nations use one or more of these schemes, and the number and types of severities have been weighted similar to how local health departments determine their scoring. The EPIC form and scoring qualify for the UL Everclean Food Safety Practices Verification Mark.