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 Safety Considerations for the “New Way” of Dining, Part II – Back-of-house
In our first blog this month, we discussed the importance of front-of-house practices as we emerge from the pandemic this summer and into fall. Making your guests feel safe will be an important point as we welcome them back to our establishment. The safer they feel, the more likely they are to revisit and this could, in turn, be a competitive advantage for your business.
Food Safety Considerations for the “New Way” of Dining
Spring is my favorite time of year, as we head out of the winter months, welcome warmer weather, and increase the daylight hours. As such, we turnover a new leaf and welcome new life as our grass, trees, and perennials come out of dormancy. This year as the Coronavirus vaccine continues its roll out and we welcome a third vaccine onto the market this morning, perhaps this spring we are turning over a ‘new leaf’ in a much more profound way, as we see light at the end of the Coronavirus tunnel.
Developing Good Food Safety Habits
Good habits and habit development are something that has fascinated me for several years. If you’ve attended any the training programs or presentations that my colleagues and I have conducted through our Center for Food Safety in Child Nutrition Programs, you’ve likely heard me opine about the importance of habits and how habits are created. Many times, in foodservice operations we wonder why our staff don’t follow the food safety practices we have established in our operation. Perhaps they don’t wash their hands when they are required, perhaps they just don’t use the proper method of handwashing, or perhaps we find that they don’t complete our HACCP logs as often as our program dictates should occur. And while we can stomp our feet and say “it is their job, they should just do it”, it really isn’t that simple. We can’t order people to change, although if we could, business and human resources would be so much simpler.
Getting Your Playbook for Food Safety Organized
As anyone who has ever worked in a foodservice operation knows, from the time food is received in your establishment to the time it is served to your customers, following proper food safety practices is crucial. What many don’t often think about is this time really should extend from the time the manager places their orders with their suppliers (including which purveyors you utilize), through the time the food is consumed – even if that consumption occurs off your premises and days after the original order was picked up by the guest. This is something that has certainly been highlighted by the pandemic as customers across the nation are utilizing take-out, curbside to go, and third-party delivery options more so now than ever before.
