Tag Archives: food safety culture

By Elise Forward

Food safety and quality assurance professionals are called upon to be change agents and leaders. It is important to embrace change, growth and continuous improvement, as these are the keys to success. With the arrival of FSMA, the culture of the food industry as a whole is going to get a boost, and we need to embrace the change that is coming. We are called to be cheerleaders for change and to encourage others to assist as changes are made. The food safety culture of an organization is reflected in how a company responds to necessary changes. However, it is often more than the systems that can use improvement; the culture could use some reinforcement as well.

Elise Forward will be speaking at the 2016 Food Safety Consortium, December 6–7 in Schaumburg, IL | LEARN MOREIn part two of a series on food safety culture, we continue to look at how food safety professionals can positively influence the food safety and quality culture of our respective organizations. In Part I, the people of the organization were recognized as critical to the food safety culture. In Part II, we will discuss the remaining items that affect food safety: access to resources, systems and opportunities for growth.

Access to Resources

Doing a job properly, efficiently and well is very difficult without the proper resources. One of the greatest challenges is to convince upper management that there is a need for additional labor, equipment and/or resources. Food safety culture is not about being the best; it is about going above and beyond and thinking outside of the box. Do not let the customers, FDA or CDC’s Pulsenet “catch” an issue. It is imperative to be proactive, look for problems and be innovative. This is part of the food safety/QA job, and support is needed from upper management. People, equipment and infrastructure must be connected to food safety issues and have a dollar amount put on them. The focus should not be on how much these activities or resources cost, but rather the savings that will occur because these food safety measures are preventing problems.

Considerations: Could a lack of resources lead to less cleaning? Could this cause a build-up of biofilms of unwanted and problematic bacteria, leading to a recall? Often production resources can be quantified as lost product produced. If production and quality have a new person, make sure that drains get extra scrubbing during downtime or that the walls and corners where the extra hoses are stored get added attention. What about any peeling paint? Or, dust on the overhead pipes? Who is attending to these items? Do you need a quality management system to manage the flow of information? Could a lack of this be severely detrimental in the event of a supplier withdrawal or recall? What is the value of time spent versus the benefits that a company-wide system could bring?

Systems

All food safety systems are under the microscope and getting an overhaul thanks to FSMA. As with any time that change is in the air, having a plan of action is helpful. The Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle is an easy-to-remember resource that can be useful when managing changing systems. Using this method provides the backbone to assist in the documentation of the change as well as evaluating the change and ensuring effectiveness.

Plan. Create and document a plan for the changes. Include who, what, where, when, why and how in the plan.
Do. Execute the plan and remember to document the actions.
Check. Make observations, conduct interviews and audit the changes that were made. Document your findings.
Act. Make any modifications to the system based on audits, interviews and observations. Document the actions taken and any required follow-up.
Repeat the cycle until the results are satisfactory. Keep in mind that the goal is continuous improvement and should not be considered a one-time task.

In all things food safety and quality related, documentation of your efforts is critically important. The old adage, “if it is not documented, it was not done” rings true. The systems will be enhanced and people in the organization will see the importance of the changes and their role in the improvement of the systems if these items are documented.

Embracing Opportunities for Growth

Many people balk at change, probably because they cannot see the opportunities on the other side. Food safety and quality professionals also need to be able to communicate to all levels of the organization when change needs to happen. We need to talk about the changes, and whether they are required or desired. It is important to talk about the benefits, which help employees see beyond the uncomfortable time during the change. Do this through meetings with executives, doughnut days with shift employees, and pizza lunches with middle management. Implement incentive programs to reward people who are making good decisions and showing food safety leadership.

Since everyone will be impacted, it means that as quality professionals we need to band together. We are each other’s best customers. Let’s rise to the top, work together and expect the best of each other. If your customers are asking for stronger food safety systems than what is currently in place, use this to support your efforts in bettering the organization’s programs. If your organization cannot meet your customer’s food safety and quality requirements, will you have adequate sales? Probably not.

Being a cheerleader for change and improvement can be tough! Create a support group for yourself. Being the problem solver, leader and change agent can be draining at times, especially with a very small team. Ensure the renewal of the food safety team and yourself by connecting with other professionals through trainings, conferences, trade associations, etc. At a minimum, read leadership blogs in addition to the food safety and quality blogs and groups that are available. All of these avenues can provide support, encouragement and connection to others in the industry as well as serve as a resource for best practices.

Conclusion

How do you implement the changes that need to occur with FSMA? Slowly and surely. Plan the strategy for implementation. Be persistent. Communicate with all levels of the organization by being a teacher, coach and leader; avoid being a cop. FSMA requires changes to the food safety programs of every food company that supplies products to the U.S. food market. We must not sit by the wayside but rather constantly teach, mold and shape the leaders who are in current management as well as the future managers who are just starting their careers. Before we know it, we have again been change agents, not in the bold and loud way, but in the soft and subtle way that can create a lasting effect and will forever positively influence the food safety and quality decisions in our organization.

August 8, 2016

Lack of Resources, Negative Attitudes Barriers in Training

By Maria Fontanazza

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Part I of the Q&A: New Workers Means New StrategiesFood safety culture has been a part of several industry initiatives over the past year, from employee training in preparation of FSMA implementation to GFSI’s technical working group. In part three of a Q&A series with Food Safety Tech, Laura Nelson, vice president of business development at Alchemy Systems, shares some thoughts about current industry efforts surrounding employee education and food safety culture.

Food Safety Tech: How does employee education tie into instilling a food safety culture within a company?

Part II of the Q&A: Go Beyond the Classroom to Improve Training PerformanceLaura Nelson: In the global food safety training survey we conduct with Campden [BRI] and other industry leaders—for the fourth year in row, food safety professionals confirmed that the number one goal for food safety training is to improve their food safety culture. Effective employee training is foundational to a robust food safety culture. And yet we have feedback on why we as an industry are challenged to achieve this goal—lack of resources is identified as the biggest challenge for almost half of the total survey respondents. Additional challenges identified include negative employee attitudes, lack of effective communication, the multicultural workforce, high turnover, and just complete lack of awareness of culture. The good news is that more awareness and best practices are emerging to help organizations improve their food safety culture. As a member of the GFSI Food Safety Culture Technical Working Group, we are actively working on guidance to help meet the identified needs of the industry. The focus on the importance of food safety culture to an organization is growing. We know that FDA investigators are going through food safety culture training to better recognize companies that have an effective food safety culture and those that may not have an effective one. GFSI is shining a light with its working group. BRC is introducing their voluntary “Culture Excellence: Food Safety Culture Module” to help companies assess their food safety culture. Research is ongoing with the development of new food safety culture assessments and best practices. All of these efforts are in agreement that effective employee training is a key factor in developing and maintaining a robust food safety culture.

Maria Fontanazza and Laura Nelson discuss food safety culture and employee empowerment at IAFP 2015. WATCH THE VIDEO

Given that employee training is so important to a healthy food safety culture, we need to resource this effort accordingly. We asked survey respondents to tell us how many hours of food safety training they’re conducting for employees. The responses ranged from less than four hours (a little more than 20%) to more than 35 hours annually. In that wide continuum, there’s a large disparity between the focus on food safety for those employees receiving less than four hours of food safety training versus those employees receiving over 35 hours of food safety training. Our business is complex and recruiting and training new employees on our critical operational programs is challenging. Those companies who are still utilizing their legacy classroom-only food safety training program will continue to struggle to mature their food safety culture. Innovative companies are finding new ways to overcome time and resource limitations. We asked: How are you keeping food safety top of mind? The innovative companies who are using digital signage, newsletters, email communications, posters, team meetings, huddle talks, etc., those who are trying to immerse their employees into their food safety culture using all the different touch points are having more success in making food safety top of mind.

Deirdre Schlunegger, CEO of STOP Foodborne Illness

August 5, 2016

Food Safety Culture Club

Motivating the Culture Shift

By Deirdre Schlunegger

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At the 2016 Food Safety Consortium, STOP Foodborne Illness will have a fundraiser to honor heroes in food safety. |December 6, 2016, 7–9 pm | LEARN MOREIn 2012 STOP Foodborne Illness established a relationship, which evolved into a partnership, with the California Leafy Green Marketing Agreement (LGMA) organization. On my first visit to LGMA, I met key staff members and observed a mock audit. We had good initial conversations. Scott Horsfall, CEO of LGMA, and I continued to talk and a second visit ensued, this time with individuals who had been ill with E-Coli from Leafy Greens. Everyone was a bit nervous, but it was a productive and even healing experience. We visited farms and processing plants, heard from farmers and shared a lovely meal outdoors with the farmers. On the last day, we sat in a room with tables configured in a large square and each person took turns introducing themselves, talking about why they were at the table, what roles they had in the leafy green business, and the visitors shared personal heart wrenching stories of illness and death from foodborne illness. There was not a dry eye in the room during and after this encounter. Every farmer vowed to do everything possible to prevent pathogens from making their way into the market place. This was a profound experience for everyone involved.

The following year, Scott proposed that STOP Foodborne Illness and LGMA jointly create a video for training purposes. That project came to life in the summer of 2014. It is a video and a project that LGMA and STOP Foodborne Illness professionals are deeply proud of and love to share with others (the video comes in several versions and is available in Spanish). Scott and I continue to speak about the partnership and look for additional ways to collaborate.

Food safety is about collaboration and finding solutions and preventing illness and death from foodborne pathogens. This week I spoke with a mother whose daughter died a year ago from foodborne illness (not from produce). I told her that I so badly wish that we could have prevented her beautiful daughter’s death and vowed to continue this important work. We are not there yet: Each of us must be completely committed to getting to a place where we don’t hear these stories. And we will get there by keeping the “why” at the forefront and continuing to develop critical strategies that reduce and work to eliminate the problem. Thank you to all who are dedicated to creating and sustaining a safe food supply and a special thanks to LGMA. You can see the LGMA video, “Video: The Why Behind Food Safety”, on our homepage.

August 1, 2016

FST Soapbox

How to Build, Change and Mold Food Safety Culture

By Elise Forward

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Food safety and quality professionals are change agents and problem solvers. It is what we do. The manner in which people within an organization respond to change, problems and opportunities for improvement is a reflection of the food safety culture of the organization. Does your organization celebrate when someone correctly decides to shut production down or put a product on hold? Obviously, it is always best to prevent any issues before they arise, but stopping a line to prevent bad product from being produced or catching out-of-specification product before it leaves the facility is better than continuing to produce and ship bad product. These events are often viewed as negative occurrences, and, therefore, many do not see the value of the Food Safety/Quality Assurance department.

Elise Forward will be speaking at the 2016 Food Safety Consortium, December 6–7 in Schuamburg, IL | LEARN MOREHow can we change this viewpoint and positively affect the food safety and quality culture of the organization? A few key factors have a great impact on the culture of an organization. People, systems, access to resources and opportunities for growth are all integral pieces of a stellar food safety culture. In this column, the first of a two-part series, we will explore how people build, change and mold the culture.

First and foremost, people are the number one asset and provide the greatest impact to change. Not only are personnel the eyes and ears of an organization, but they also provide the logic required to make good decisions. Computer technology is amazing, but it cannot fully replace the human ability to process the information. People need to be used to their fullest potential in order to obtain the greatest impact. The following are some ways people can be used to boost the food safety culture of an organization.

Everyone is involved in food safety. A team is always stronger than individuals. Everyone, from the C-suite to the third-shift person in charge of the employee refrigerator and taking out the trash, to the office staff that answers the phones and opens the mail, needs to have responsibility for food safety. In addition, contractors and subcontractors are not immune to providing a significant role in protecting the food safety of your product. All relevant staff must have the appropriate training to understand that what they do affects the food safety of the product as well as the entire facility. Having everyone trained means that many then share the food safety mentality and, therefore, there are stopgaps in the system. As with many issues, it is not one breakdown of the system that leads to a failure but a culmination of many breakdowns. People are still the strongest asset to food safety, so having multiple stopgaps (i.e., people), involved in protecting the process will help ensure that the product remains safe.

Executive responsibility. The responsibility of the overall food safety of products leaving the facility now lies with the executives, as seen by the recent cases involving Peanut Corporation of America, DeCosters and Jensen brothers. Executives and decision makers are accountable for the presence of or lack of appropriate food safety measures. Therefore, when making changes, executives need to understand that these are personal decisions that could affect themselves and their family, in addition to customer confidence as well as profits and losses. Questions such as, “What happens if their name is plastered on the evening news?” and “How will your customers, investors, consumers react if the company has a problem?” should be asked.

Evaluate any decision for food safety consequences. Food safety and quality is directly related to profits and losses. Any issue or change that arises must be evaluated to determine if there are any impacts to food safety. For example, the purchasing department must understand that the items purchased and used on the production floor impact food safety. Therefore, food safety should be on every agenda and part of every decision. This can be as simple as adding to the bottom of every agenda the question, “Is there any way that food safety will be impacted?” The C-suite members should be included in management meetings where additional food safety discussions occur.

Employee trust. Employees must be trusted to keep the product safe in order to safeguard the business and the products. It is human nature to take pride in the work that we are assigned and to strive for excellence. People feel rewarded when they are trusted and will continue to add value to the organization by striving for continuous improvement. This translates to greater attention to food safety and quality.

If an employee cannot be trusted, this person should not be on the payroll. The Food Defense rules specifically require a company to address intentional adulteration from an internal entity. To ensure quality, background checks should be completed on every employee, contractor or sub-contractor who has access to critical areas of the facility.

Food safety should be in every job description. Food safety is everyone’s job, so update job descriptions to include pertinent responsibilities to food safety. At a minimum, everyone should have the “See something, say something” responsibility in his or her job description, in addition to anything specifically related to his or her job. Likewise, it can be valuable to have an independent set of eyes to evaluate a system. Therefore, train and use all personnel that do not have a background in food safety and quality. Departments such as accounting, warehouse, maintenance and personnel should be trained to perform GMP and sanitation audits. Spread these tasks around and your systems will benefit. The people performing the tasks will take pride at being trusted with these important responsibilities and tasks.

While a company or organization may start in an undesirable situation, it is possible to change the environment. Remember, the people you work with are your greatest asset. Value these people; uplift, teach and coach them in the ways of food safety and quality. Your efforts will produce astounding results! In the second half of the discussion on food safety culture, we will discuss other facets that influence food safety culture.

July 26, 2016

New Workers Means New Strategies

By Maria Fontanazza

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Today’s workforce includes several different generations of employees and learning preferences. In part II of a Q&A series with Food Safety Tech, Laura Nelson, vice president of business development at Alchemy Systems, explains how food companies need to adjust to this new environment.

Read Part I of the Q&A: Go Beyond the Classroom to Improve Training PerformanceFood Safety Tech: Should there be different training strategies based on employee demographics?

Nelson: Yes. Our employee demographics are continuously changing and, as a result, those changes impact the effectiveness of our training program. We have five different generations, and each has a learning preference—and some are directly opposed to each other. We have employees who like to learn by reading—baby boomers like things clearly spelled out like detailed sanitation SOPs. And then we have employees who would absolutely not want to read detailed protocols but prefer learning from their fellow colleagues and their supervisor – millennials who prefer micro-burst training and learning through interactions. [Based on] our research conducted in partnership with The Center for Research and Public Policy, when we asked employees their learning preference and what works best for them, the majority (57%) said on the job with a supervisor, and (56%) said on the job with a coworker. Clearly, learning beyond the formal classroom training is taking place every day. We have to ask ourselves how consistent is the food safety program learning experience on the plant floor? Are bad habits, incorrect behaviors and short cuts being reinforced by fellow employees? In a follow-up research question, we asked how much coaching employees receive from their manager and more than 43% of the responding employees said they rarely or never receive coaching.

Our challenge as an industry is to make sure employees are learning in a consistent way through their supervisors and colleagues. It speaks to the all-important role of the frontline supervisor and the fact that we have to arm them with the knowledge and skill to effectively mentor and coach their employees and give them time and the responsibility to do it. It’s important to include soft skills training for supervisors: How do you communicate and motivate employees? How do you encourage them in a way that [facilitates] improvement and reinforces appropriate food safety behaviors?

We also have data that says the quality of onboarding training is an area for improvement—over 20% of respondents rated the quality of their onboard training not good. Some companies are still executing the ‘one-and-done’ training where you spend a full day or two trying to do all the training that the employee needs prior to starting their new job. If an employee is bombarded with food safety training—all the different sanitation information, GMPs, operational controls, SOPs, industry regulations, etc.— by the time the employee leaves for the day, the reality is that they forget more than 80% of it within 30 days. So, our challenges extend beyond the employee learning preferences and where training takes place. We have to improve our training content to really meet [employee] education level, language, and learning preferences and provide in smaller chunks to improve knowledge retention. Our critical food safety messages need to be part of a continuous rolling thunder of communication, meaning you’re not trying to train all at once but rather are building a food safety awareness program, maybe through posters, shift huddle talks or digital signage. It’s the different things you can do that don’t require additional training time but impacts employees with multiple touch points to reinforce these key food safety messages.

July 21, 2016

Food Safety Culture Club

We Know the Why

By Deirdre Schlunegger

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Food safety culture is not just a catchy phrase or the right thing to say. It is the right thing to embrace and the right thing to implement. But how is it achieved? It is relevant to start with understanding “The Why” behind food safety. Why is it important? Do people really get sick and die? Why does that happen, and what is our role in preventing it? How do we integrate aspects of FSMA with a culture that embraces a robust food safety culture, and how do we create passion around the culture? I continue to address this issue, because at nearly every meeting I attend, in committees in which I serve and in simple conversations with colleagues, I hear the frantic voices of those who have so much to do, results to produce, bosses to please, and staff to supervise, and the why behind food safety is rarely mentioned.

STOP Foodborne Illness, Why Behind Food Safety — We need to truly understand the “why: behind food safety.

I speak to and read about individuals daily who have been sick or lost children or parents to this preventable problem. I see the photos of their children and hear about their loving attributes, yet this aspect is often neglected in the equation of the busy lives of those involved in growing, producing and distributing our food. I get it—who wants to talk about the problem when there is a product to promote and sell? But in reality, the only reason any of us live this frantic life with a long to-do list is because people get sick and die from foodborne illnesses, and because it is our job to do what we can to prevent the illnesses. And while consumers can practice safe food handling, there is nothing they can do about Salmonella in peanut butter, or Listeria in ice cream, cantaloupe or caramel apples. Let’s start the conversation of HOW to change and sustain a strong food safety culture and include the why as our rationale in the conversation. STOP Foodborne Illness is interested and will devote more time to the how, and I hope you will join us in this conversation and endeavor. I would love to hear your thoughts.

June 27, 2016

Food Safety Culture Club

Spreading the Message

By Deirdre Schlunegger

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STOP Foodborne Illness receives many requests to speak at conferences, trainings and meetings. I recently spoke at the Harris County Food Safety Summit in Houston, along with David, one of our Texas volunteers. David became ill from Salmonella after eating at a hospital. The event’s audience consisted of health inspectors, and restaurant owners and managers. It was a great crowd.

At this year’s Food Safety Consortium, STOP Foodborne Illness is holding a fundraiser and honoring heroes in food safety. LEARN MOREAt the United Fresh meeting, I participated on a panel with Rylee, a STOP Nevada volunteer, who spoke about her experiences as a victim of a foodborne illness. Also include on the panel were folks from The California Leafy Green Marketing Agreement to talk about our collaborative training video project. STOP Board Member Jorge Hernandez, also the Chief Food Safety Officer for Wholesome International, moderated the discussion. The video was played (available on STOP’s website). I was asked what I thought about competitive marketing advantage as it relates to food safety. To be honest, I don’t really think about that: STOP Foodborne Illness has an obligation to do what we can to prevent illness and death that stems from foodborne illness. We know that sharing personal stories makes a difference in training.

Now that I’m back in the office, our team has three requests, one for speaking and two requests from media to talk about food safety. We hear a lot about food safety culture these days, but actually taking the steps to facilitate, implement and monitor that change can be more of a challenge. We are reading about so many new technologies and practices related to food safety, which is great, but they must be accompanied by a company’s knowledge and commitment in order to be successful.

We will continue to contribute to the conversation. We are most interested in prevention and in solutions and like you, want to make a difference. We want to have fewer and fewer conversations with devastated family members about their experience with foodborne illness. Thanks again for all you do to create a strong food safety culture. How is your organization instilling a strong culture? Let us know how we can help.

May 23, 2016

Food Safety Culture Club

Changes in Culture

By Deirdre Schlunegger

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The vast majority of foodborne illnesses in the United States results from either a management system failure or human error. This supports our belief that all foodborne illnesses are preventable. With the introduction of FSMA, prevention has become a significant focus in the battle to eliminate foodborne illness.

STOP Foodborne Illness is collaborating with Intrinsic Leadership, LLC to offer a Food Safety Leadership program. The primary objective of this program is to equip leaders with the knowledge, skills and abilities to develop and sustain a culture of prevention relative to food safety.

Successful prevention requires more than just the introduction of new knowledge and skills for workers. Success requires the consistent and ongoing application of those skills.

We know that training can provide knowledge and skill. However, the most significant predictor of long-term success is the extent to which frontline managers actively support behavioral changes within the employee base. Experience shows that transforming an organization to produce superior results is much more than training programs, process improvement or new technology. While each of these elements are important, sustainable improvement occurs when we are able to shift the way people think about the business in a way that drives them to consistently act different then they did in the past. The role of leadership is to:

Frame the business opportunity in a way that inspires employees to seek a better outcome
Relentlessly pursue management system improvement
Represent, support and encourage a culture that aligns with improvement opportunities

Stories are powerful reminders and provide the “why” behind food safety. Below are two such stories.

Raw Milk – E. coli 0157:H7

It is the stories that create the urgency behind the importance of food safety. Christopher’s story is heart breaking—yet, he was one of the lucky ones, as he recovered from his illness.

Cheese – Listeria

Allison survived as well but had a rough entry into the world, as she was diagnosed with Listeriosis shortly after birth.

Frank Yiannas, Walmart, Food Safety Consortium

April 26, 2016

Make Food Safety Culture the Social Norm

By Food Safety Tech Staff

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WATCH VIDEO I: Apply Behaviorial Science Techniques to Food Safety
Most people are influenced by the behavior that surrounds them, especially in a professional environment. In part III of a video series of his presentation at the 2015 Food Safety Consortium, Frank Yiannas, vice president of food safety at Walmart, discusses the key role that behavioral science plays in food safety culture and how companies can build a stronger culture by considering the principle of social norms.

Yiannas also touches on how learning through the mistakes of others can be an effective teaching tool.

“I think we have to teach food safety the wrong way sometimes to teach it the right way,” said Yiannas. “I think a lot of food safety professionals create curriculum and modules that are teaching it the right way…when the research is clear—teaching the wrong way can be pretty good.”

Frank Yiannas, VP of Food Safety, Walmart

March 18, 2016

Use Homophily to Deliver Food Safety Message

By Food Safety Tech Staff

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Watch part I of the video with Frank Yiannas: Apply Behavioral Science Techniques to Food SafetyWho is your company charging with delivering the food safety message? Are they believable? Frank Yiannas, vice president of food safety at Walmart, provides insights about how companies should be spreading their message when implementing a behavior-based food safety program. By applying the principle of homophily, companies (especially global organizations) can communicate more effectively with employees—and in a more believable way.

Access to Resources

Systems

Embracing Opportunities for Growth

Conclusion

Raw Milk – E. coli 0157:H7

Cheese – Listeria

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