Company’s pursuit is focused more on gaining the essential certificate or in confirming that their products are safe. Most facilities reduction somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, balancing the desire for food safety with legitimate concerns about profitability. It is not hard, however, to classify whether a facility sees a food safety audit as another bureaucratic hurdle or an opportunity for development. That attitude often acts as an indicator of how the organization will perform on their audit. Sites that prioritize safety and constant improvement are likely to have better audit outcomes.
Food Safety Culture refers to the precise culture of a facility: the attitudes, beliefs, practices, and values that determine what is happening when no one is watching. If organization want to measure a site’s Food Safety Culture, try asking that how the site typically reacts to food safety concerns.
In certainty, no facility can afford not to grow a healthy Food Safety Culture. A strong culture of food safety helps a facility both to prevent and catch deviations in their procedures that impact the safety, quality, and legality of their products. This, in turn, has a main impact on the possibility and severity of a recall impacting that site. While it is mutual for there to be tension between Quality Assurance and Operations teams over the allocation of resources in a plant, the data suggests that it is in the interest of both departments to grow a strong Food Safety Culture. Doing so confirms the integrity of food products and protects the bottom line.
How can cultivate Food Safety Culture in facility?
A change to organization culture always begins at the top. Because top management has final control over resources, their buy-in on food safety is absolutely crucial. Ways management commitment can be seen contain:
- Proper money and time are assigned to staff receiving essential food safety training.
- Machinery and tools are repaired and replaced accordingly to reduction the risk of health risks for the product and employees.
- A food safety plan is well developed and acts as a living document that is frequently updated.
Management commitment is also apparent when senior management repeatedly participate in routine food safety meetings; reviewing consumer complaints, results of recent inspections, food safety problem in the industry, corrective actions from previous audits, and growth toward new food safety goals. Elsewhere the above listed actions, a truly robust Food Safety Culture needs creative thinking to help the entire staff understand the importance of food safety.
Changing an organization culture is never easy. It takes time and knowledge to move forward. The eight-step process featured below acts a helpful to take first step towards adoption of a more food safety focused organization culture.
- Create a Sense of urgency.
- Create a Guiding Coalition.
- Develop a vision and strategy.
- Communicate the Change Vision.
- Empower employees for Broad based action.
- Generate short term wins.
- Consolidate gains and produce more change.
- Anchor new approaches in the culture.
It is significant to remember that creating this type of culture is only truly effective when it is backed up with action. Food safety culture awareness training is basically shared values, beliefs, and norms that affect mind-set and behavior toward food safety in, across, and throughout an organization. Cultivating a Food Safety Culture is a never-ending process of constant improvement, but commitment to this area yields benefits for the bottom line, for employee satisfaction, and for the families who eat product. Organization can’t afford to neglect it.
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