Tips to improve your company's food safety culture

Published on Veggies from Mexico news

by Wendy Johnson and Mat Bartkowiak | Nelson-Jameson, Inc.

From farm to fork, food safety is a topic that everyone in the supply chain should embrace. The regulatory realities of 2011’s Food Safety Modernization Act were meant to usher in a new foundation in food safety; however, full implementation was interrupted by the pandemic, and numerous significant challenges remain in the fight for safe food. FDA launched its “New Era of Food Safety” in 2020 to refine food safety practices using technology and engaging a more holistic view of the practice of food safety.

One fundamental yet pragmatic question launched a specific key target in this new initiative: “What do people do when no one is looking?” Your company may have a great food safety plan on paper; it may have checked all the boxes. Your hazard analysis and recall plan may have been inspired by pristine, textbook examples of building a cohesive food safety plan. That’s terrific, but what happens on the production floor? What happens in the daily processing environment? What does an employee do when they see something go wrong? It’s critical to engage employees—and management—so that they feel supported in taking on food safety and dedicate themselves to following established protocols.