Taking a Multi-Modal Approach for Sustainable Food Safety Culture

Article By DAVID ACHESON Published September October 2023
Article Source: Taking a Multi-Modal Approach for Sustainable Food Safety Culture - Quality Assurance & Food Safety (qualityassurancemag.com)

While there is a general understanding of the importance of food safety culture, there is significantly less understanding of how to get there.

Despite its continued evolution over the last two decades, food safety culture (FSC) is still a relatively new concept for the industry, with the why generally understood, but the how being more nebulous.

As a part of FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety focus on food safety culture, the agency released a systematic review of scientific literature to help further its work to meet the 10-year goals of the New Era Blueprint. One conclusion made by FDA was that the literature describes the importance of the determinants of a strong and effective FSC, but “there are a limited number of tools designed specifically to help create and promote an effective FSC.” The lack of research and tool development in this area has similarly stymied many in the industry; that is, while there is a general understanding of the importance of food safety culture, there is significantly less understanding of how to get there.

From our experience in working with food businesses on developing and maintaining a strong, sustainable food safety culture, we have found that a multi-modal approach that is both qualitative and quantitative provides the best results. Just as the FDA review found that most FSC assessments incorporate a survey that is disseminated to those in different roles and levels of the organization, we see that as critical — but as just the first step in the process.

The survey sets a baseline for the current climate of the organization’s FSC by determining how both managers and workers view and apply food safety. This is accomplished through the application of an anonymous survey addressing the dimensions of FSC and identifying respondents only by generic titles or levels (as well as facility location for larger organizations). The survey also needs to be well-structured to provide an accurate assessment of “maturity” across all dimensions of FSC.

While there is a general understanding of the importance of food safety culture, there is significantly less understanding of how to get there.

Including a focus on the five GFSI dimensions of FSC — vision and mission, people, consistency, adaptability and hazard, and risk awareness — not only provides a well-rounded approach, but also enables facilities to fulfill standard requirements.

Once the survey is conducted, it is essential to have expert analysis to provide a number of insights, including:

• A statistical measurement of the facility’s FSC maturity in each dimension and where and how to continually improve in each.

• A review of the alignment or lack thereof between management and affiliates for each dimension.

• A measurement of social desirability; that is, whether participants respond as they think they should or provide their true thoughts.

While the survey provides strong insights, a truly thorough approach needs to include a multi-modal approach, adding real-time interviews, document reviews and site visits to ensure that employees and the organization are truly doing what they say they are doing. This is not to say that respondents will intentionally misstate their beliefs and actions in the survey, but there will undoubtedly be some who believe that no survey is truly anonymous and will respond as they want to be seen. Others may truly believe something is regularly occurring in the organization but have never checked to ensure it really is. Thus, personal interviews and external eyes in the facility can bring to light areas of need that an organization does not realize exist.

While each step is critical in determining an organization’s FSC maturity and needed areas of improvement, it is the final step of continual expert measurement and assessment that will enable an organization to evolve from Phase 1 “emerging” cultural maturity to Phase 5 “interdependent.” An organization will know it has reached cultural maturity when team-driven food safety actions drive all goals of the organization, ongoing motivation is in place for continued improvement and best-in-class practices and sustainable success are achieved — with continued improvement a critical aspect of its sustained maturity.