Recipe for a Positive Food Safety Culture
For the past few years, we have referred to the importance of developing a positive food safety culture within foodservice operations. The workplace culture is basically a reflection of “this is what and how we do things here”. Manufacturing and construction companies often proudly post the number of days “accident free” as a reflection of their workplace safety culture. In foodservice though, everyday has to be foodborne illness free – otherwise the operation may not be in business for long!
So what are the elements of a positive food safety culture? In past work at Iowa State University, a doctoral student led focus groups within various types of foodservices to identify elements of a food safety culture in order to better define the pieces of the puzzle. This resulted in identifying nine themes and their descriptors (shown below). You can see familiar topics such as leadership, communication, and teamwork. It is probably no surprise that management style was also listed – and aligned with that is the responsibility the manager has for ensuring a good work environment with availability of adequate supplies.
But in reading through the themes, you will see it is not just the manager who influences the workplace culture. Employees themselves, through their own internal motivation, commitment to the job, and contributions to the team, are part of the recipe for creating a positive safe food culture. Managers need to hire the right person for the job. Doing so depends on defined knowledge, skills, and attitudes/attributes (KSAs) expected of the individual to perform the work successfully, and communicating expectations. In fact, a conclusion of the study was that soft skills ARE important! Next time we will delve into some of the other themes such as accountability, and how these all fit together. Everything is connected – and each piece of the puzzle contributes to the picture, or the food safety vision for the foodservice. A missing piece contributes to risk. Risk Nothing!
| Theme | Descriptors |
| Leadership | Role Model/Presence/Monitor/Consistent |
| Communication | Openness/Consistent/Constant/Frequently Remind/Bottom-up approach/Clarity |
| Commitment | Value/Priority/Internal motivation |
| Environment | Adequate supply/Quality supply/Easy access to resources |
| Teamwork | Teamwork within department/unit Teamwork between department/unit |
| Accountability | Reward/Punishment |
| Work pressure | Time restraint/Adequate staff/Adequate supply of resources/Work schedule/ Customer and client expectation or demand |
| Management style and system | Availability of operating procedures/Provide training |
| Risk perception |
Ungku Zainal Abidin, U.F., Arendt, S.W., & Strohbehn, C.H. (2014). Food Safety Culture in Onsite Foodservices: Development and Validation of a Measurement Scale. Journal of Foodservice Management and Education, 8 (1). https://www.fsmec.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/2014-Volume-8-Issue-1.pdf
Based on dissertation research of Fatimah Ungku-Zainal Abidin in 2013 titled Measuring Food Safety Culture: Insight from Onsite Foodservice Operations.
Food Recalls: Another Important Reason to Have a Sound Traceability Program in your Foodservice Operation
Earlier in the month, I discussed a bit about the proposed traceability rules that may be coming out soon. One result of implementing the proposed rule and improving overall food traceability in your operation is the ability of those in the food chain to quickly identify and pull product involved in a food recall.
Food Traceability in Foodservice Operations: An Essential, and Soon-to-be Required, Component of your Food Safety Plan
In June, I discussed the importance of having a solid food defense plan, and I provided you some resources for developing or strengthening your food defense plan. As I was writing those blogs, my mind kept turning toward food traceability. While they are distinctly different concepts, food traceability goes hand-in-hand with a food defense program. I would argue for your food defense plan to be effective, you must have an effective internal food traceability program, where you can trace the product back to the supplier (backward traceability), but also be able to trace the product from the supplier to the guest who was served the product (forward traceability).
Food Defense Plan Resources – at just the right price…
Earlier in the month, I discussed the importance of having a solid food defense plan in place for your foodservice operation. Even if the first version of your plan is not perfect, it is a start. Having plans down on paper will force you to think through the process and ensure the vulnerable points where opportunities exist for possible contamination within the operation are mitigated.
Don’t Turn a Blind Eye to Your Food Defense Practices
Late last week, as I mindlessly scrolled through Twitter, I ran across a Tweet suggesting the #IceCreamChallenge from summer 2019 was the real cause of the Coronavirus spread. Of course, the Tweet was made tongue in cheek, but it did cause me to reflect on that challenge, which had a short life on social media in the summer of 2019.
