The Food Detective Training Game

Designing Digitally, Inc. built Food Detective: Making Risk not a Factor as a full-scale, investigation-style simulation program that trains inspectors by putting them in the inspector’s role and letting them work the case. Instead of teaching inspection steps as static content, we built a suite of restaurant scenarios that mirror the kinds of operations inspectors actually encounter, from fast-paced quick-service environments to more complex full-service kitchens. Each restaurant has its own personality, menu, processes, and problems. Still, every case follows the same real-world flow: review the facility context and history, assess the menu and process risk, conduct a walkthrough, interview management, identify the most significant CDC risk factor that is out of control, and then decide what to do next. That last part is key. The program forces learners to choose immediate corrective actions that protect customers right away, and long-term intervention strategies that help the operation build systems, not just patch today’s issue. We also designed the experience to reward purposeful inspection behavior. Learners can explore, but they have to make wise choices about where to spend their attention, because that is precisely what the job demands on a busy day.

Food Detective is now deployed nationwide, giving agencies a consistent way to train and calibrate inspectors at scale. What we see is that inspectors come out of the experience thinking differently. They get faster at spotting the fundamental risk drivers instead of chasing low-impact details. Their documentation becomes more evidence-based because they have practiced connecting observations to risk factors and to corrective actions that make sense. And they have more confidence in conversations with operators because they are trained to focus on control, not just compliance. At a higher level, the program supports what this initiative was really about: improving public food safety outcomes. When inspectors are more consistent, establishments adjust faster. When establishments build better controls, fewer unsafe situations reach customers. That is the chain reaction AFDO, the FDA, and the CDC were aiming for, and it is what this training was designed to deliver.