Latest Case Study
Food Safety Awareness
UX Research for
Training Materials
Identifying practical gaps and developing accessible guidelines and training materials for food workers to ensure cleanliness in the food business while adhering to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) guidelines.
My Role: UX Research
Timeline: 4 Days
Tools: Personal Interviews, Whiteboards, Figma and Google Sheets
Problem
Designing for Food Safety: A UX Approach
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has ramped up enforcement actions against food businesses, issuing 133 Enforcement Orders in 2024— a 45% increase from 92 in 2023. The FSAI stressed the importance of strong food safety management systems, stating that businesses must ensure staff are properly trained, informed, and assessed, while also maintaining clean premises and effective pest control.
In December 2024 alone, nine Closure Orders were issued:
Six under the FSAI Act, 1998
Three under the EU Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation Regulations, 2020
A common thread in these closures was the failure of food workers and managers to follow basic FSAI guidelines.
Closure Orders in December were primarily due to: inadequate pest control; fresh rat droppings and carcasses; live cockroaches on surfaces; dirty premises with food debris and rat feces; live and dead cockroaches in food areas; improper food storage temperatures; lack of cleaning; disorganized food storage hindering cleaning; and absence of a food safety management system.
My Role & Contributions
As a UX designer, I aim to enhance compliance and accessibility by developing user-centered digital or physical solutions, such as visual aids and multilingual training interfaces, for food safety information in the hospitality industry. I conducted research to pinpoint gaps in how kitchen staff access and understand essential food safety information.
Through in-person interviews and user journey analysis, we uncovered key pain points, including language barriers and inadequate training. My contributions led to a comprehensive research presentation in Figma Slides, which included:
Empathy maps and personas of target users (e.g., in-house kitchen staff, shift supervisors)
Key insights around knowledge gaps and linguistic barriers
Recommendations for delivering bite-sized, visual-first food safety training modules
The findings were handed off to the implementation stakeholders and design team for the next phase—prototyping and developing a tool that empowers food workers to stay informed and compliant with safety standards.
The UX Design Process
To ensure a thoughtful and user-centered outcome, I followed a streamlined UX design process, focusing on the Research and Define phases. This methodical approach enabled me to uncover the core needs of in-house food workers and managers, identify usability challenges, and shape strategic recommendations.
By grounding the process in user empathy and real-world constraints, I was able to deliver insights that balanced both user expectations and organizational goals, setting a strong foundation for the next implementation phase
1. Research
Competitor analysis
User interviews and surveys
Heuristic evaluation
2. Define
Crafting user personas
Developing problem statements and user journey maps
Affinity Diagram
3. Handover
Developing a findings presentation
STAGE 1 | Research
Understanding How Food Workers Engage
with Food Safety Guidelines
To design an effective solution, we began by asking a fundamental question: How do food workers across various types and sizes of food businesses engage with food safety guidelines
—and how well are they informed and assessed?
Our goal was to explore the real-world practices of in-house food workers and managers, considering the pressures of busy service environments and the operational demands of running a food business.
Competitive Analysis
Comparing Food Safety Awareness Practices Across Dublin Restaurants & Cafés
As part of the research phase, I conducted a competitive analysis of four distinct food establishments in Dublin: Zaytoon, Pho Kim, Indian Tiffins, and 3fe The Triangle. These venues represent a mix of ethnic cuisines, business scales, and service styles—making them ideal for examining how food safety practices vary and what UX opportunities exist.
The Conclusion Insights
Usability Test
Evaluating Existing Food Safety Awareness Practices in Real Environments
To validate our early research insights, I conducted on-site usability testing and informal contextual inquiries across four Dublin-based food businesses: Zaytoon, Pho Kim, Indian Tiffins, and 3fe The Triangle. The goal was to understand how food workers interact with current food safety materials, how accessible and effective these systems are, and where usability challenges arise in fast-paced kitchen settings.
Methodology:
Contextual observations during prep and service times
Short task-based evaluations (e.g., locating cleaning procedures or allergen charts)
Informal interviews with staff and managers
Note-taking on environmental factors like signage and device usage.
STAGE 2 | Define
Translating research into action by organizing key insights, mapping the customer journey, and defining the primary user persona.
After the research phase, I collaborated with UX Researcher Angelica Di Clemente to create an Affinity Diagram, organizing key insights and themes. Using this, I developed a Customer Journey Map to highlight user pain points and opportunities. These insights helped define our average user persona, ensuring the design process stayed grounded in real user needs.
Affinity Diagram
Organizing Insights into Actionable Themes
To bring clarity and structure to the wide range of feedback gathered during interviews and contextual observations, I facilitated an Affinity Diagram session with four food workers and department managers from different restaurant settings. Together, we clustered individual data points into meaningful themes, enabling us to translate fragmented insights into strategic opportunities for design.
This collaborative process revealed core user challenges, unmet needs, and systemic gaps in FSAI food safety awareness and practices.
Key Findings by Theme
Kitchen Contamination Awareness
Most staff understand raw-to-cooked contamination, but not chemical or physical types.
Visual signs work better than written instructions.
Food Worker’s Training
Training is often informal and one-off.
New staff depend on peers, which leads to inconsistent learning.
Contamination Awareness
Knowledge of cross-contamination is intuitive, not based on clear standards.
Many rely on smell or look instead of proper checks.
Language Barriers
Safety materials are only in English, making it hard for non-native speakers.
Some are afraid to ask for help due to language limitations.
Hygiene Awareness
Handwashing and glove use are common, but not consistent under pressure.
Color-coded tools are available but not always used correctly.
Communication & Sharing
Info is shared verbally or through apps like WhatsApp.
No central place for training or updates.
Kitchen Design
Small spaces lead to risky food placement (e.g., raw near ready-to-eat).
Safety signs often get lost in visual clutter.
Food Storage
Dry goods are sealed, but labels are often missing.
FIFO is known but not always practiced.
Fridges & Cold Storage
Workers know fridges should be “cold,” but not exact temperatures.
Temperature checks are irregular or not recorded.
Labelling
Many containers lack clear dates or contents.
Labels fade, fall off, or aren’t used.
Documentation
Rare use of checklists or digital tracking.
Most staff rely on memory, especially when busy.
Affinity Diagram Insight
There’s a clear need to improve awareness of food contamination types—especially beyond raw-to-cooked risks. Many food workers rely on intuition or visual cues rather than clear standards. Introducing simple, visual, and multilingual tools can help bridge these knowledge gaps, making food safety more accessible and actionable in fast-paced kitchen environments.
Creating the Customer Journey Map
To better understand the day-to-day challenges faced by a 26-year-old food worker from Venezuela, I developed a Customer Journey Map based on their typical work experience in a high-pressure kitchen environment. This visual tool helped trace key stages—from onboarding and food prep to handling raw meats, storage, and cleaning duties.
This map uncovered key pain points such as:
Inconsistent or unclear hygiene practices under time pressure
Limited awareness of cross-contamination risks
Over-reliance on verbal instructions in English, despite language barriers
Missing or ineffective food labeling and documentation
Confusion around correct glove use and fridge temperature requirements
By mapping these stages, I identified clear opportunities to:
Introduce visual-first, multilingual training tools for FSAI food safety awareness
Reinforce best practices with color-coded cues and microlearning prompts
Support ongoing learning through mobile-accessible resources
Reduce errors through simple, actionable signage and checklists
This approach ensured the design solutions directly addressed real-world user needs in a fast-paced, multicultural kitchen environment.
STAGE 3 | Handover
Translating Research into Action
Following the completion of the research and definition phases, I compiled all findings into a structured handover package for the next stage of implementation. This UX research project focused on identifying practical gaps in how food workers interact with food safety training, with the goal of developing clearer, more accessible materials in line with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) guidelines. By observing real-life kitchen environments and engaging directly with staff, we uncovered key usability issues that affect the daily practice of food safety protocols—especially in high-pressure, multilingual, and fast-paced settings.
As part of the handover, I delivered:
A customer journey map illustrating pain points and opportunities across key food safety stages: Storage, Preparation, and Cooking/Reheating/Hot Holding
A clearly defined primary user persona representing frontline food workers with limited access to consistent training
A visual summary of affinity mapping insights and key themes from interviews and observations
Recommendations for visual-first, multilingual training solutions to support better compliance and awareness
This work lays a strong foundation for the design and development team to create practical, user-centered safety training tools that respond directly to the needs of Ireland’s diverse food workforce.