The Human Factor and Food Safety

A few weeks ago, we discussed the top five causes of foodborne illness, 1) Improper hot/cold holding temperatures of time and temperature control for safety foods; 2) Improper cooking temperatures of food; 3) Dirty and/or contaminated utensils and equipment; 4) Poor employee health and hygiene; and 5) Food from unsafe sources. As I noted, all of these items are not in the direct control of your staff, but most can be.  For the second blog this month, I wanted to discuss a bit more about the human factor in our food safety programs.

Whenever you walk into any foodservice operation as a customer, you will often see the obligatory wall of food safety certification certificates, assuring customers of the commitment the managers and employees have to food safety. All too often I fear that for some operations, that is as far as the food safety culture goes.

The reality is that all 50 states have some sort of food safety certification requirements in force.  But as we have read in study after study, there is a low correlation between food safety knowledge and actual practice.  In other words, even though employee knowledge has improved after attending a food safety class, their behaviors do not.

Now, please don’t misinterpret the point I am trying to convey – even though there is a low correlation between knowledge and behavior, food safety training is still very important.  In fact, I would say it is vital.  Employees cannot contemplate ever changing behavior if they don’t know what the proper behavior is or how you SHOULD handle food.  I would even go so far as saying that rather than only requiring the person in charge to demonstrate knowledge, I would hypothesize that having the majority of production employees able to demonstrate knowledge of food safety would be a positive step in improving the food safety culture in any food service environment.  I wish I had a research study to back this hypothesis, but perhaps that is a study we can do in the future. If more people in production truly understand the importance of proper food safety practices, how could it not help?

Invite change, support it and own it.  Reinforce positive behaviors and show your employees that you value their input.

For several years, my peers and I have been espousing the importance of the subjective norm in the operation related to food safety.  The subjective norm refers to the perceived social pressure we feel in any aspect of our lives to do things a certain way, believe in a certain thing, or even which practices we follow regarding food safety.  Many times, our employees attend a training and go back to an operation where the employees are not supportive of the skills or knowledge the trainee has learned.  Then, when they try to change behavior and/or practices, they are not supported and often revert back to what has always been done by the employees in the operation.

The only way to improve the norm in our operations is to truly have a food safety culture.  A culture where every employee buys into the fact that nothing is so important it cannot be done safely.  And that starts with the top down.  When an employee attends training and passed a certification exam, celebrate that fact with your employees during their next shift and invite them to implement one thing they have learned from the class, and make sure other employees follow the new rule.  It shows support for new and different ideas and reinforces the fact that you sent the employee to training for a reason – to help protect your guests and your business.  It also shows other employees that you are not afraid of change and not stuck in doing things the same way in which they have always been done.

Invite change, support it, and own it.  Reinforce positive behaviors and show your employees that you value their input. Risk Nothing. 

Evaluating Food Safety

One of the suggestions I made in the last blog was to assess the food safety culture in your organization by observing the food handling techniques of workers. Let’s explore that some more. You can do an overall assessment or you can hone in on specific areas of the operation, such as production or cleaning practices. Remember, when the environmental health inspector visits your operation, he/she just gets a snapshot of what is going on in your operation on that particular day at that specific time. You are there nearly every day, so you have a much better understanding on what really happens in your operation.

September is Food Safety Education Month: The Culture of Food Safety

Developing a culture of food safety is important for any foodservice operation. You may be wondering--just what is a culture of food safety? Let’s start talking about it by first defining what is meant by culture. When you look culture up in the dictionary, you will see terms such as shared knowledge, beliefs, values, attitudes, and meanings; a way of life; patterns of behavior; learned behavior of a group of people; and transmitted from generation to generation. I think these descriptors provide good insight into the meaning of a culture of food safety. You can also think about where you grew up, and a vision of culture comes. For example, I grew up in rural Oklahoma, graduating in the 1970’s with a class of 24 students. My culture instilled in me an appreciation for rural life, hard work, and independence. As I grow older, I realize I haven’t changed very much from my early years, even though I have completed a PhD, lived a lot of places, and traveled throughout the world!

Produce Safety: Special Considerations

In our last blog, I talked about general produce safety. Today, I want to talk about some special products—melons, tomatoes, leafy greens, and sprouts. These are all foods that have a history of bacterial contamination leading to foodborne illness. I also want to discuss salad bars because they have some special risks.