Seeing the palpable impact of food poisoning associated with catering operations, we surveyed caterers with and without past hygiene violations to examine staffing, food safety practices and correlations with microbial counts in food and the processing environment. Past infringements did not negatively impact the current execution of food safety measures nor the microbial quality of food. In preference to added stringencies for errant operators, we discuss alternative efforts to augment food safety, as well as the policy implications thereof.