Food Safety Culture :
There is no doubt that Food Safety Standards have improved significantly over the past twenty years in all sectors of the supply chain driven primarily by major product recalls, GFSI and retailer standards. Large multinational food manufacturers have also driven improvements through increased expectations of the upstream supply chain.
Figure 1: Elements of Food Supply Chain
As companies’ food safety management systems have matured with 10-15 years of BRC Grade A or FSSC Certification, the expectation now is that Food Businesses have a strong Food Safety Culture. If most CEOs were asked ”Do you have a strong Food Safety Culture?” they would all say “yes” believing that they do, but do they?
In challenging oneself as to whether your Food Business really has a best practice Food Safety Culture you must first establish what is culture? There are many definitions to be found but the following two are perhaps the more accurate and thought provoking respectively:
“Culture is the system of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people.”
“Culture is communication, communication is culture”
Figure 1 above simply visualizes the elements of the supply chain. Food flows one way, money the opposite and expectation always follows the money “he who pays the piper calls the tune.”
What is the tune that your customer expects you to play? They expect you to know their fears, their concerns, their expectations and to understand their Food Safety Culture. It is then up to your entire organisation from CEO to shop floor operator to “communicate” to them in a manner that assures them that you won’t let them down.
Interested in Finding out More? Check out the Food Safety Culture One Day Training Programme at SQT Training
