What is food safety culture?
Food safety culture within a food business enhances food safety by improving the behavior of employees, managers and business owner. This in turn has a positive impact on food safety.
Food safety culture can be defined as:
‘Shared values, beliefs and norm that affect mindset and behavior toward food safety throughout an organization’. GFSI
‘How everyone thinks and acts in their daily job to make sure that the food they make or serve is safe’. FSANZ
How can food safety culture benefit your business?
Comply with Legislation
Food safety culture has already been adopted by the Codex Alimentarius and is being proposed by the European Commission to also add this to the hygiene of foodstuffs (Regulation 852/2004). It is also part of numerous food safety standards such as BRCGS, SQF and many retailers.
Business performance
Another benefit includes less errors and less waste in a food business. A study by Brunel University found that 10.9% of food waste was caused by human error. And the Institute of Food Science and Technology identified that 54% less errors occur in businesses that have a strong culture.
A team with the right culture where everyone is working towards the same aim, is an efficient one. When people work together, issues will get picked up quickly, minimizing disruption, waste and cost.
Staff retention
Training employees in food safety is also key to building a strong food safety culture. This knowledge they gain through training will give you confidence that your employee is going to make a good decision when faced with a food safety issue.
Staff retention and food safety culture go hand in hand. When a company invests in one, they will also be investing in the other.
If you would like to find out more about food safety culture, I would be happy to speak to you on some ways you can improve and promote a strong food safety culture across your organization. Contact me at info@enlitened.ie
