Food Safety Culture Collaboration: Are Regulators Adapting and Catching Up?

Article By Rounaq Nayak, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer in Sustainability, Bournemouth University; Lone Jespersen, Ph.D., Founder and Principal, Cultivate SA; and Anne-Mette Olsen, D.V.M., M.V.P.H., Chief Advisor, Danish Agriculture and Food Council
Article Source: Feature-Cover Story | October/November 2023 | Food Safety Magazine (food-safety.com)

Food safety regulatory authority and enforcement agencies are following industry in a pursuit to improve their own food safety culture

By Rounaq Nayak, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer in Sustainability, Bournemouth University; Lone Jespersen, Ph.D., Founder and Principal, Cultivate SA; and Anne-Mette Olsen, D.V.M., M.V.P.H., Chief Advisor, Danish Agriculture and Food Council

The current landscape of food systems is characterized by intricate global networks, and ensuring food safety means managing risks throughout the entire supply chain. In today's context, stakeholders encompass all those engaged in the interlinked activities of cultivation, gathering, processing, packaging, transportation, storage, and the final sale of the food product. Importantly, a single stakeholder can assume different roles within the supply chain. Furthermore, it is highly probable that ingredients or raw materials originate from international sources. Within every phase of the journey from production to consumption, food must be evaluated for potential hazards.

Food companies sometimes encounter challenges to documenting their complete supply chains. Nevertheless, documenting the complexity of this supply chain is imperative for complying with federal and international food safety regulations, minimizing risks, and meeting consumers' food safety and transparency expectations in the supply chain.

The reduction of food safety risk hinges on fostering collaboration among food enterprises, authorities, and consumers, with all taking responsibility for shared solutions. Food companies, as key stakeholders in the food supply chain, must actively engage in sharing information, best practices, and innovations to collectively ensure the highest standards of food safety. Regulatory authorities play a pivotal role in establishing and enforcing stringent guidelines and objective regulations, while also facilitating transparent communication with businesses. Equally important, consumers' awareness and expectations for safe food practices bolster the effectiveness of the system.

The need to prevent injuries, illnesses, and fatalities is a common goal among regulators and industry globally. While regulations are designed by legislators, the implementation, enforcement, and communication of the regulations is performed by food safety regulatory and enforcement agencies (FSRAs) across the world. The objectives of FSRAs include activities such as making scientific judgements founded on risk evaluation, advocating and formulating strategies for risk assessment, initiating scientific research projects, evaluating scientific information, pinpointing emerging hazards, and openly sharing information about imminent risks with other countries.

Enterprises, authorities, and consumers form the structure that holds the food safety system together. By openly sharing information about near-misses and failures, food businesses not only learn from their own experiences but also contribute to the collective insights, preventing others from making the same mistakes. Trust acts as a catalyst, encouraging companies to step forward and share their difficulties without fear of punitive actions. This shared learning approach can be a proactive tool for addressing vulnerabilities, closing gaps in food safety protocols, and enhancing overall risk management.

However, trust does not develop in isolation; it thrives in an environment of cooperation and understanding. FSRAs play a vital role in nurturing this environment by offering a non-punitive stance toward errors and emphasizing the importance of continuous improvement while providing guidance to various stakeholders. When authorities collaborate with industry, they create a space where discussions about failures and challenges are seen as opportunities for growth.

Consumers are integral participants in this trust-building process. An informed and engaged consumer base contributes to a demand for supply chain transparency and accountability. When consumers are confident that companies and regulatory bodies are working together to tackle food safety issues, trust in the food supply chain is strengthened.

A Decade of FSRA Food Safety Culture Learnings

For a long time, industry has been held accountable to food safety auditing schemes aligned with GFSI benchmarking requirements, such as SQFI, IFS, FSSC, GRMS, and BRC. As such, since 2020, food safety culture as an audit requirement has incorporated an evaluation of a company's food safety culture. As a result, these businesses are expected to consistently enhance their food safety protocols and operational efficiencies by improving their organizational culture. Interestingly, the drivers for these transformations have been to meet customer requirements, not to meet requirements from regulatory bodies.

FSRAs are following industry in a pursuit to improve their own food safety culture. If they fail at this, then the collaboration, transparency, and trust between FSRAs, industry, and consumers can be damaged or difficult to establish. Thus, several countries, organizations, and companies have taken proactive measures to enhance their food safety cultures. Since 2021, many FSRAs globally have incorporated the concept of organizational culture into their food safety audits (Figure 1). Entities from the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the U.S., and Ireland [UK Food Standards Agency (FSA), Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), Dairy Food Safety Victoria (DFSV), and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)] have been trailblazers since 2012. In addition, many nations have contributed to the Codex revision of the General Principles of Food Hygiene.1