Tag Archives: food safety culture

Food Safety Culture Club

Catalyst Food Leaders Announces 2026 Virtual Leadership Summit for the Food Industry

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Catalyst Food Leaders will host its second annual Catalyst Leadership Summit on April 8, 2026, a virtual event designed to help food industry professionals rethink how leadership shapes culture, performance, and long-term business success.
Centered on the theme “Reimagining Leadership,” the summit will bring together leaders from across food manufacturing, operations, food safety, and executive leadership for a half-day of practical insights and real-world leadership conversations.

The event will feature keynote speaker Candice McGlen, author of Engage Us Now!, who will challenge leaders to rethink culture change as a grassroots effort that begins with individual ownership. Additional sessions will explore how leaders can build systems that support leadership development, address unconscious bias that limits growth, and create stronger team cultures that drive performance.

“Technical excellence has long defined leadership in food,” said Tia Glave, President of Catalyst Food Leaders. “But the industry’s biggest challenges today – retention, accountability, culture, and burnout – require leaders to develop people with the same intentionality they apply to operations.”

Registration and event details are available at: https://www.catalystfoodleaders.com/leadership-summit

Food Safety Culture Club

More Than an Obligation: Building a Culture of Food Safety That Lasts

By William Brodegard
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Every food and beverage company has a food safety program.very company has a food safety culture, good or bad. Across the industry, you can see a clear maturity curve. At one end are organizations that meet regulatory requirements because they must – they comply, they document, and they prepare for audits. At the other end are those that embed food safety into everything they do. For them, compliance is a byproduct of strong processes and shared values, not just the finish line. They move past “what’s required” and focus on “what’s right,” creating an environment where food safety isn’t something checked off once a year but lived out daily across every shift and every site.

This shift in mindset represents the real evolution of food safety maturity. It’s the difference between protecting a business and strengthening it. When companies see compliance as the goal, improvement stops at the minimum acceptable level. But when they treat food safety as a reflection of their culture, every metric – from audit scores to customer satisfaction – begins to move in the right direction. Food safety excellence in 2026 shouldn’t really be about policing processes, it should be about empowering people to take ownership. The organizations that reach this stage understand that sustainable quality comes from within, when teams no longer ask, “Do we meet the standard?” but rather, “How can we raise it?”

The compliance plateau

It’s easy to assume that passing audits and meeting regulatory deadlines means a business is in good shape, and many companies think that’s enough.. But compliance alone doesn’t guarantee consistency, and it doesn’t always tell the full story of what’s happening on the floor. Documentation can look perfect while small, unrecorded deviations create hidden risks. Every gap in recordkeeping represents a potential business risk, not just a compliance failure, and those risks compound quietly over time. The reality is that many food and beverage companies hit a “compliance plateau.” They have the right forms, the right SOPs, and the right intentions, but their systems are designed to prove compliance rather than to improve performance. That leaves a lot of potential on the table.

It also breeds complacency. Teams work hard to stay audit-ready but lose sight of why the standards exist in the first place. The focus becomes “what we have to do” instead of “what we could do better.” And in that mindset, root causes stay buried and the same issues resurface year after year. Breaking through requires a shift in perspective that treats every inspection, every deviation, and every data point as a learning opportunity. When companies start asking how they can prevent issues instead of just documenting them, they move from compliance maintenance to cultural improvement.

Culture as a catalyst

A strong food safety program depends on process, but a lasting one depends on people. When food safety becomes everyone’s responsibility, from operators on the floor to leadership in the boardroom, it becomes a shared mission. For this to work, trust and visibility are essential – when teams can see real-time data about performance, issues, and trends, they’re likely to take greater ownership of results. Transparency removes the fear of “being caught out” and replaces it with a sense of accountability and pride. In that sense, the more open the system, the stronger the culture.

Building this kind of environment also means reframing how success is measured. Instead of celebrating clean audits alone, mature organizations recognize and reward proactive behaviors – flagging small deviations before they escalate, taking initiative to correct problems, and learning from near misses. Over time, those actions create a cycle of continuous improvement. Food safety becomes something teams compete to uphold rather than something imposed from above. And because safety is inherently “pre-competitive” – there are no brand wins for getting it right, only reputational harm for getting it wrong – raising internal standards benefits the industry as a whole.

Digitization as an enabler

Culture can’t be established in a vacuum – the right systems need to be in place to support and reinforce it. That’s where digitization becomes a key differentiator. By moving from paper records and delayed reporting to real-time data capture, food safety teams gain the visibility they need to stay ahead of issues. While a paper system merely stores information, often poorly with high risks of error and duplication, a digital system connects people, processes, and performance under one single source of truth. When a deviation occurs, alerts trigger immediately, corrective actions are tracked, and insights feed back into continuous improvement. The result is a living system that evolves with each and every data point.

And this level of visibility and proactivity has a knock-on effect on behavior. When operators see that the data they enter drives decisions and improvements, engagement rises. When managers can analyze patterns across sites or shifts, prevention actually starts to seem possible. Over time, digitization weaves food safety into the nuts and bolts of daily operations, turning isolated checks into connected intelligence. It’s important to note that this technology will never replace human judgment, nor should it, but it does strengthen it by giving teams the clarity and confidence to act quickly and consistently. In the most mature organizations, digital systems are the quiet backbone of culture: always on, always learning, and always reinforcing the commitment to do things right the first time.

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Beltway Beat

FDA’s 3rd Food Safety Culture Webinar – February 18, 2026

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FDA announced in a press release the third webinar in FDA and Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness co-hosted Food Safety Culture Webinar Series.

Webinar #3: Live Your Values Day by Day Wednesday, February 18, 2026; noon ET

Register here!

The webinar will discuss how to avoid complacency through proactive, ongoing reinforcement of organizational values. Webinar participants will include Sean Leighton, Global Vice President of Food Safety, Quality and Regulatory at Cargill and Sarah Nayani, Director of Compliance with Arctic Storm Management, as well as speakers from FDA and the Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness.

This is the third in the ongoing series of interactive, hour-long webinars throughout the year designed to deepen your knowledge and strengthen your commitment to food safety. Each session will feature industry experts who will share valuable insights, real-world tools and actionable strategies to enhance food safety culture across your organization.

Click this link to view the complete list of webinars and reserve your spot for the rest of the series.

Listeria
Ask The Expert

Communications – The “Choice to Chase” Listeria

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Listeria

The “choice to chase” Listeria should not and cannot be made lightly. This is not a task to be given solely to the Food Safety & Quality Assurance (FSQA) department. Senior management across the organization needs to understand what this means, be educated on the actions and consequences, share the risk, and share the accolades. In a very real sense, all of this relates to the food safety culture of the company and its business success. Dr. Lone Jespersen addresses these factors in her paper on economic gain and a mature food safety culture.

No company is going to say publicly they would not make a choice to chase. It’s unethical, and bad business practice. However, it’s their actions which are telling. How they chase is what matters. The hierarchy of the chase:

  1. Close your eyes and hope nothing happens.
  2. Put the FSQA organization on the front line to handle any audits and inspections which relate to the microbiological cleanliness of the plant. They are on their own.
  3. Form a FSQA + Sanitation Team that is charged with plant cleanliness. They are on their own.
  4. Provide the FSQA + Sanitation Team whatever it needs to assess Listeria risks in the plant–people, equipment, training, and budget.
  5. Expand the “choice to chase” team to include the HACCP team, and representatives from senior management.
  6. Charge the team with finding Listeria species wherever they may be, and communicating those results to management.
  7. Charge the team with finding Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) wherever it may be, getting DNA results for Lm, and comparing those results with the CDC’s database, PulseNet.

The challenge (and opportunity) with the latter two approaches is that the company will end up with data demonstrating that Listeria exists in the plant. If Listeria is in the plant, it could get in the food. Hence, many senior managers do not want to know these kinds of results, and they enable an organizational culture that does the same. See point #1, above.

Looking for Lm and finding it in non-product zones can be truly enlightening and empowering. Confirming that its DNA is not in the CDC database can be comforting–no one else has found “your” Listeria in their plants or in listeriosis cases. This gives you the freedom to contain your own problem.

In all cases except #1 above, sanitation and microbiological results must be shared properly with senior management. This requires ongoing education, and a competent team that can address contamination (this requires senior management to hire the right people). Why is this important? Of course it’s to make sure everyone is on the same proverbial page regarding the data. But far more importantly, it’s to raise everyone’s awareness of food safety risk to the company’s products.

Sharing data, sharing ideas to solve contamination problems, and sharing effectiveness of corrective actions serve the purpose of sharing the risk across the company, i.e., the senior management team. Said another way, senior management needs to be aware of all the data, at all times.

If leadership listens and provides resources (and stops shipping product when appropriate), then the FSQA team is well supported and can feel empowered to work even harder to make the choice to chase Listeria. This is the kind of culture and support which matters most to making sure Listeria is managed well. It is also the kind of environment FSQA professionals can be proud of, knowing they are making a very positive impact on public health.

This is the 6th in a series of 6 Listeria in Food Plants articles. See the Related Articles below to read the series.

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Ask The Expert

Dr. Darin Detwiler to lead Goal Oriented Leadership Communication Workshop at the Food Safety Consortium

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Rick Biros, Food Safety Consortium Conference Committee Co-Chair announced that Dr. Darin Detwiler, a professor, author, and internationally recognized food safety expert, will lead a pre-conference workshop called Goal Oriented Leadership Communication, an interactive workshop that will explore best-in-class communication strategies rooted in behavioral science.

“Effective leadership in food safety isn’t just about setting rules—it’s about influencing behavior through clear, goal-driven communication. Simply telling employees to wash their hands or follow protocols “because you said so” is not enough to ensure compliance or drive long-term change. So how can leaders at all levels—from plant managers to frontline supervisors—communicate in a way that aligns actions with core food safety goals.” said Dr. Detwiler.

2018 Food Safety Supply Chain Conference, Blockchain
Dr. Darin Detwiler, Director at Food Safety Tech’s Food Safety Supply Chain Conference

Workshop Participants will gain practical tools to:

  • Align leadership messages with desired food safety outcomes
  • Enhance communication effectiveness through structured inputs, actions, outputs, and measurable results
  • Improve documentation and reporting to reinforce accountability
  • Develop strategies to overcome persistent food safety challenges

Attendees will not only engage in hands-on exercises but will also leave with a customizable worksheet to plan, implement, and evaluate communication strategies in their own workplaces. Join this session to strengthen your leadership impact and drive a stronger culture of food safety through goal-oriented communication.

Information about the workshop is at FoodSafetyConsortium.org and click on Agenda

Food Safety Culture Club

The Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness Announces 2025 Mentees

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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The Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness, an arm of the national nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Stop Foodborne Illness  announced its 2025 Mentorship Program companies: Lakeside Foods, Bread Alone Bakery, and LifeLine Foods.

The Mentorship Program is a year-long, virtual workshop hosted by the Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness. It is designed for small and medium-sized food companies to improve their food safety culture through direct support from large global brands.

Together, mentees will work through the Alliance’s award-winning Food Safety Culture Toolkit, while simultaneously providing feedback on how these resources can be better tailored to meet the needs of smaller companies across the industry. Mentees will attend a monthly meeting to share best practices and troubleshoot collective roadblocks, with special guest presentations from industry leaders.

Mentees will also have access to exclusive food safety culture working groups, virtual and in-person meetings, and various other events to network and learn from the best of the best in the industry.

This year’s mentees were selected based on an application and interview

“We had a number of very strong applications to choose from and the decision wasn’t easy, but ultimately we selected three companies who are deeply committed to improving their food safety culture,” said Vanessa Coffman, Ph.D., Alliance Director at Stop Foodborne Illness. “We are so thrilled to launch this mentorship program and look forward to the multi-directional learning that will happen within the cohort, from the bigger companies to the mentees, and maybe most importantly, what these smaller companies can teach us.”

“Too many people get sick and die each year from preventable foodborne illnesses. We are looking to raise all boats with the Mentorship program,” said Sandra Eskin, CEO of Stop Foodborne Illness. “This program is just one innovative way the Alliance is working to bend the curve of foodborne illness. I can’t wait to see all they accomplish!”

Frank Yiannas, Walmart, Food Safety Consortium
Food Safety Culture Club

Frank Yiannas and Aquatiq Partner to Expand Global Reach of Food Safety Culture

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Frank Yiannas, Walmart, Food Safety Consortium

Frank Yiannas, a world-recognized food safety expert, and Aquatiq, an international provider of food safety solutions, are joining forces to advance global expertise in the establishment of food safety cultures in industry and government.

This is the first time a third party will be accredited to train and certify instructors to teach the Food Safety Culture Workshop© that Yiannas has been conducting for executives and regulators all over the world. The partnership aims to make food safety culture more accessible and actionable for companies and regulators worldwide.

Yiannas, a former deputy commissioner at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and principal of Smarter FY Solutions, has long championed the importance of establishing food safety cultures to fuel and support food safety management at all levels of the global food chain. He created this workshop to provide a greater understanding of how to use organizational and behavioral science principles to influence behavior and enhance employee compliance.

“This partnership marks a significant step in making food safety culture practical and impactful for companies worldwide. Together with Aquatiq, we aim to empower organizations with the tools and knowledge to prioritize food safety at every level,” said Yiannas.

Aquatiq’s program will include a rigorous train-the-trainer process, certification, and an emphasis on measurable outcomes, ensuring high standards of training and education.

“At Aquatiq, we believe that food safety culture is the cornerstone of sustainable and responsible food production.” said Eirik Bugge, CEO of Aquatiq. “Partnering with Frank Yiannas allows us to leverage his unparalleled expertise to deliver world-class training and solutions that empower companies to embed food safety into their core values and operations.”

Before joining the FDA in December 2018 as Deputy Commissioner of Food Policy and Response, Yiannas spent more than 30 years in leadership roles with Walmart and the Walt Disney Company. And he wrote two books on food safety culture: “Food Safety Culture: Creating a Behavior-Based Food Safety Management System,” published in 2008, and “Food Safety = Behavior: 30 Proven Techniques to Enhance Employee Compliance,” published in 2015. After leaving FDA, Yiannas established Smarter FY Solutions to advise on food safety and supply chain issues.

Aquatiq provides food safety solutions across every stage of the food production value chain. With a focus on enhancing sustainability and reducing costs, Aquatiq is dedicated to helping businesses achieve excellence in food safety and operational efficiency.

 

Intuitive Leadership: Unlocking Better Outcomes in Food Safety Compliance

By Ainsley Lawrence
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A production line runs smoothly by every measurable standard. The gauges read normal, and quality checks pass, yet an experienced manager picks up on subtle irregularities in the process flow. That pause for additional testing reveals a critical safety risk — one that standard protocols alone might have missed. These pivotal moments are the essential connection between established safety procedures and professional insight into food production environments.

Professional judgment is the secret sauce in food safety, built through extensive experience and refined observation. Combined with rigorous compliance standards, this instinctive understanding creates a powerful foundation for protecting public health and maintaining operational excellence.

The practice of blending data-driven protocols with well-developed professional insight leads to faster threat identification, more effective risk management, and ultimately stronger safety outcomes across the food production chain.

The Science of Intuition in Decision-Making

Split-second gut feelings in food production environments stem from a complex interplay of experience, knowledge, and rapid cognitive processing. The brain processes countless subtle cues — slight variations in equipment sounds, minor changes in product appearance, small shifts in temperature patterns — comparing them against stored memories of previous experiences. This mental processing occurs below conscious awareness, producing insights that manifest as gut feelings or professional hunches.

As this singular observation becomes many through repetition, the brain subconsciously picks up on patterns, anomalies, and deviations that could prove perilous for consumers. To help build your intuition, you can train your brain’s ability to recognize patterns while painstakingly building your own experience-based mental model of the food safety process.

Pattern Recognition in Food Safety

The mind catalogs countless details during daily operations, creating an internal database of normal conditions and potential warning signs. These mental patterns form through years of hands-on experience, becoming an invaluable tool for early risk detection. When subtle deviations occur, this stored knowledge triggers recognition, often before conventional monitoring systems detect an issue.

Production environments present complex, interconnected variables that require rapid assessment. Successful food safety leaders develop an acute awareness of normal operational patterns, allowing quick identification of potential issues. This ability to spot subtle variations from standard conditions provides crucial extra time for investigation and correction of developing problems.

Building Experience-Based Mental Models

Mental models in food safety develop through repeated exposure to both routine operations and crisis situations. These frameworks combine technical knowledge, regulatory requirements, and practical experience into a comprehensive understanding. The resulting insight allows for rapid assessment of complex situations and informed decision-making under pressure.

The development of reliable mental models requires systematic exposure to varied scenarios and careful analysis of outcomes. Each experience adds to the framework, refining and expanding the ability to recognize potential issues. This accumulated knowledge becomes particularly valuable during high-pressure situations when time constraints demand quick, accurate decisions.

The Role of Reputation in Food Safety Compliance

Food safety excellence paves the path toward consistent, reliable performance, not just barebones regulatory compliance. Each operational decision carries weight, influencing immediate safety outcomes and long-term market position. Strategic approaches to reputation management demonstrate how proactive safety measures protect both public health and brand value. Every action within the production chain builds or diminishes this foundation of safety excellence.

Market trust takes years to establish yet remains fragile. Food safety leadership requires maintaining high standards while preparing for potential challenges. This dual focus on prevention and preparedness creates a resilient framework that supports both operational excellence and brand protection. Small lapses in judgment or execution can ripple through an organization, affecting stakeholder confidence and stability.

Building Trust Through Consistent Performance

A strong reputation in food safety stems from daily operational excellence. Each quality check, each verified process, and each maintained standard contributes to a track record of reliability. These accumulated actions create a buffer of trust that proves invaluable during challenging situations. When unexpected challenges that could damage trust occur, this buffer helps assure consumers.

Success in food safety requires more than avoiding failures — it demands creating and maintaining systems that consistently exceed basic requirements. This proactive approach builds credibility with regulatory bodies, business partners, and consumers while establishing a culture of excellence that permeates all operational levels.

Managing Crisis Situations

Crisis management in food safety demands both swift action and careful consideration. The ability to recognize potential issues early allows for measured responses that address problems while maintaining stakeholder confidence. This balance between speed and precision defines effective crisis management. Where others would freeze or falter, decisive leaders know when to lean on data, gut instinct, or a combination of the two.

Successful crisis navigation relies on preparation, clear communication channels, and established response protocols. When combined with well-developed professional judgment, these elements enable rapid, effective responses that minimize impact while maintaining transparency and trust. The focus remains on protecting public health while preserving the operational integrity that supports long-term success.

Cultivating Intuition in Food Safety Leadership

Professional judgment in food safety grows through structured practice and mindful observation. The most effective safety cultures develop when leaders actively cultivate awareness at every level, creating environments where signs of potential issues receive prompt attention as merited by their respective urgency. This systematic approach to developing professional insight strengthens the entire safety framework while leaving room to adapt.

The integration of intuitive understanding with formal safety protocols creates robust protection against emerging risks. By facilitating open communication about safety concerns, organizations build collective expertise that enhances both individual judgment and system-wide effectiveness.

Developing Professional Judgment

Building reliable intuition requires exposure to varied operational scenarios and careful reflection on outcomes. Regular practice in risk assessment, combined with systematic analysis of decisions, creates a deeper understanding of complex safety dynamics. This deliberate approach transforms experience into actionable insight.

Effective judgment develops through the careful balance of confidence and verification. Each decision provides an opportunity to refine understanding, building a foundation of knowledge that supports swift, accurate responses to emerging situations. This growing expertise becomes particularly valuable during non-standard situations that demand quick assessment.

Creating a Culture of Vigilance

Strong safety cultures grow from consistent attention to detail and shared commitment to excellence. When organizations support the development of professional judgment at all levels, they create multiple layers of protection against potential risks. This distributed awareness strengthens the entire safety system but is only as useful as its weakest link. Where vigilance is concerned, you want to shore up your weak spots while continuing to refine what you do well.

Maintaining high safety standards requires ongoing dedication to both individual and collective development. Regular practice in risk assessment, combined with open discussion of observations and concerns, builds organizational expertise that supports both routine operations and crisis response. As with many things, this ultimately boils down to clear communication.

Final Thoughts

Food safety excellence stems from combining seasoned professional judgment with meticulously paced protocols. The integration of well-developed intuition, strong compliance practices, and careful reputation management lays the groundwork for better safety leadership, creating robust yet flexible systems capable of pivoting to address routine challenges and critical situations alike.

Food safety demands leaders who balance quick insights with verification, supporting decisions with both experience and data. This combination of refined professional judgment and rigorous standards builds the foundation for operational excellence, creating lasting protection for public health while maintaining the highest levels of food safety integrity.

 

 

Measuring and Improving Food Safety Culture

By Michael Ciepiela
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Although there is no definitive method to certify compliance with food safety culture, numerous approaches exist to demonstrate that a facility and its employees are thoroughly engaged in proper food safety practices.

Regardless of whether your facility is GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) certified, working towards certification, or newly established, it is essential to maintain a strong food safety culture. So how exactly is food safety culture defined? This seems to be an ongoing topic or even debate on how a facility can meet compliance for this requirement. Although there is no definitive method to certify compliance with food safety culture, numerous approaches exist to demonstrate that a facility and its employees are thoroughly engaged in proper food safety practices. This is achieved not only by adhering to these practices but also by actively contributing to their improvement. A key principle consistently emphasized from the leadership is that food safety culture is not the responsibility of a single individual or department. While the quality assurance department typically leads these efforts, ensuring the safety of the food produced is a collective responsibility shared by all employees.

Employee Engagement

When launching any initiative or project related to food safety culture, the first challenge is often gaining employee buy-in. As a leader, it is crucial to communicate the importance of food safety culture to your staff. Why is it important? How does it affect each individual? Why should an employee care if they perceive their role as simple?

In reality, no job is ever just ‘simple.’ This is where education and training become essential for both the individual and the entire team. Complacency can lead to a diminished sense of importance in one’s work, making it vital to emphasize the significance of each role in maintaining a robust food safety culture.

Allocating proper resources to employee training as part of continuous improvement initiatives boosts individual morale and benefits the company’s overall outlook. Investing in training demonstrates a commitment to employee development, fostering a culture of growth and engagement. Well-trained employees perform tasks more efficiently and accurately, leading to higher quality products and services. This investment enhances customer satisfaction and gives the company a competitive edge.

Benchmarking Food Safety Culture

Being able to measure the ‘Level of Health’ for your food safety culture can be tricky but not impossible. Food safety professionals will often delve more into quantifiable traits when establishing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), but when it comes to measuring culture, qualifiable traits should be utilized as well. These qualifiable traits include employee attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors regarding food safety, which can be assessed through methods like employee surveys, interviews, and focus groups. Additionally, observing day-to-day interactions and the general atmosphere regarding food safety practices can provide valuable insights. It’s also beneficial to evaluate the level of engagement in food safety training sessions, the frequency and nature of internal food safety communications, and the willingness of employees to report issues and suggest improvements.

Quantifiable and Qualifiable Traits

Companies typically maintain key performance indicators (KPIs) as quantifiable metrics to gauge the success of their facilities and operations. These KPIs can range from simple measures like employee attendance or customer complaints to more detailed metrics like Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), which considers availability, performance, and quality.

But how do quantifiable measures work with qualitative measures in relation to food safety culture? These two types of measures often work in conjunction. Quantitative metrics provide concrete data, allowing companies to track performance and identify areas for improvement. Qualitative measures, on the other hand, offer context and insight into the company’s food safety culture, capturing aspects such as employee attitudes towards food safety, adherence to protocols, and overall awareness.

Integrating both types of measures is crucial for a holistic understanding of organizational health. For instance, while high OEE scores indicate efficient production processes, qualitative feedback from employees can reveal underlying issues affecting food safety practices and morale. By balancing quantitative data with qualitative insights, companies can create a more comprehensive strategy for continuous improvement and a robust food safety culture.

Striving for Continuous Improvement

Getting your company to achieve a strong food safety culture is just the beginning of the journey. At times, it can feel like an uphill battle until you, as an individual or part of a collective team, reach the pinnacle of compliance. As leaders in your facility driving these initiatives, it’s crucial to maintain a high level of food safety culture and awareness while also striving for continuous improvement.

Engaging employees in ongoing education about their roles and responsibilities related to both their job functions and food safety and quality is essential. Too often, production employees might say, “Well, I’m not in quality assurance, so I don’t have to worry about that.” This mindset underscores the importance of consistent reminders and education for the entire team. By doing so, you can drive and maintain high standards of food safety culture expectations while also providing employees with a sense of fulfillment in their roles.

Continuous improvement in a culture, especially one as critical as food safety, may not always be easy. It requires persistent effort, regular training sessions, and clear communication about the importance of food safety at all levels of the organization. Recognizing and rewarding adherence to food safety practices can also motivate employees to stay committed to these standards. By fostering a sense of collective responsibility and ownership, you can create a robust and resilient food safety culture that benefits the entire organization.

Ensuring Long-term Success

Ultimately, a strong food safety culture is about more than just compliance; it’s about creating an environment where every employee understands their role in maintaining food safety and feels empowered to take action. By focusing on both quantitative and qualitative measures, engaging employees at all levels, and striving for continuous improvement, companies can develop and sustain a food safety culture that ensures the safety and quality of their products.

To ensure long-term success, it is vital to embed food safety principles into the core values of the organization. This means fostering an open and transparent communication channel where employees can voice concerns and suggest improvements without fear of repercussions. Regular audits and reviews should be conducted to assess the effectiveness of food safety practices and identify areas for enhancement.

Leadership must also lead by example, demonstrating a commitment to food safety in their daily actions and decisions. This top-down approach reinforces the importance of food safety across all levels of the organization. Additionally, celebrating successes and recognizing employees who exemplify excellent food safety practices can motivate the entire team to uphold these standards.

By integrating food safety culture into the organizational fabric, companies can not only meet regulatory requirements but also build a reputation for reliability and excellence in the industry. This proactive approach not only protects consumers but also strengthens the brand, ensuring long-term success and sustainability in the market.

Francine Shaw
Food Safety Culture Club

Enhancing Food Safety Culture in the Food Service Industry: A Call to Action           

By Francine L. Shaw
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Francine Shaw

In the ever-evolving realm of the food service industry, the importance of food safety goes beyond mere regulatory compliance. It embodies a moral duty that directly affects public health, regulatory alignment, and brand reputation. Startlingly, recent data exposes a stark reality: only 49% of businesses have a structured food safety culture plan, including regular staff training, clear communication of protocols, and a system for documenting and managing safety concerns. This statistic is a wake-up call, underscoring the pressing need for heightened awareness and action within the food industry.

Food businesses need to do more than just file papers outlining the rules in a dusty old file cabinet. They need to implement and prioritize a food safety culture that permeates employees’ values, attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Their teams need to eat, breathe, and live food safety.

This cultural transformation requires consistent training, leaders who personify proper behaviors, empowered employees, a reliance on tech tools, more sustainable solutions, and teams that uphold stringent food safety standards. The benefits of such a culture are not just regulatory compliance but also enhanced brand reputation, increased customer trust, and improved public health.

Food businesses can accomplish this goal if they:

Train employees. Educating employees about food safety protocols is a crucial step in cultivating a strong food safety culture. This goes beyond just teaching employees what to do, it empowers them to actively safeguard food safety, benefiting both consumers and the establishment’s reputation. Misunderstandings due to lack of training can be damaging to public health, the organization’s reputation, and consumer trust.

Explain the rationale behind the rules. When employees understand the reasons behind the rules, they’re more likely to comply. Stating the ‘what’ of safety protocols without explaining the ‘why’ can lead to significant gaps in knowledge and motivation. When employees don’t consistently follow food safety rules, there can be potentially severe consequences for the organization and its customers. Understanding the reasoning behind each protocol empowers employees by helping them understand the importance of maintaining a safe environment. This knowledge fosters a sense of responsibility, encouraging them to prioritize food safety as an integral part of their daily routines. When employees comprehend the reasons behind safety measures, they can better identify risks. This proactive approach improves overall safety and promotes a culture of progressive improvement and attentiveness.

Incorporate tech solutions. Technology is a game-changer when it comes to food safety. Integrating AI, machine learning, IoT, and other advanced technologies is pivotal in advancing food safety practices. These technologies can automate data collection, analysis, and decision-making, enhancing transparency, accuracy, and data-driven decision-making. However, it’s important to note that these technologies are designed to supplement human efforts, not replace them entirely. Human judgment and expertise remain integral to the food safety process. Many food businesses have transitioned from manual processes to tech solutions. If yours hasn’t yet, it’s time to do so. Today’s tech tools are affordable, accessible, and intuitive for brands of all sizes and budgets.

Use the right sanitizers and disinfectants. One notable solution making waves in food safety is Hypochlorous acid (HOCL), lauded by the EPA for its potent sanitizing and disinfecting properties. HOCL is a non-toxic, non-irritant, and environmentally friendly sanitizer and disinfectant that’s 99.9% effective against many pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi. HOCL is 80-100x more effective than bleach, yet sustainable, chemical-free, and safe for humans and the environment. HOCL solutions are biodegradable and sustainable, aligning with organizations’ green initiatives. This solution, which doesn’t require rinsing can enhance shelf life, reduce water usage, and reduce labor expenses.

Lead by example. Effective leadership is essential to creating a robust food safety culture. Leaders must exhibit an unwavering commitment to food safety practices, instilling a culture of accountability and excellence within their teams. When leaders champion food safety, employees will follow suit. That means businesses can ensure a safer environment for their employees and customers, safeguarding their reputation.

Take a holistic approach. The importance of building and nurturing a food safety culture cannot be overstated. It demands a holistic approach, encompassing continuous training, transparent protocols, clear communication, seamless technology integration, steadfast leadership commitment, and a culture of perpetual enhancement.

By developing an atmosphere that places utmost value on food safety at every level, from management to frontline employees, businesses can shield themselves against potential food safety crises and safeguard their guests and reputations. This reduces the risk of legal, financial, and reputational repercussions. Additionally, it enhances brand reputation, fosters customer loyalty, and attracts new business. The food service industry must create and prioritize a food safety culture with unyielding dedication to mitigate risks and maximize successes and resilience.