Literature links the term “safety culture” to the nuclear accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986. Safety culture is used to describe the safety commitment of everyone at all levels in an organisation. Increasingly, the term safety culture is being used in the food industry. Oftentimes in a food business, line workers and team leaders will be knowledgeable about food safety while the owners and management team are not. With food safety culture, that separation in food safety knowledge is a thing of the past.

According to Frank Yiannas, deputy commissioner for food policy and response at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), “Food safety culture can be viewed as how or what employees in an organisation think about food safety; it is the food safety behaviours that they routinely practise and demonstrate.” Or in the words of the Global Food Safety Initiative Technical Working Group (GFSI TWG), food safety culture is “the shared values, beliefs and norms that affect mindset and behaviour towards food safety in, across and throughout an organisation”.

Whichever definition is used, it is imperative that the importance of food safety culture is understood. This translates to how everyone, at all levels of the food business, embraces food safety and applies it to how they think and act as they carry out their daily functions. Having an established food safety culture shows maturity of a food business operator’s food safety system and demonstrates how serious they take food safety.

Therefore, a food business operator must seek to develop a food safety culture in their business. This must be fully integrated and aligned with the vision, mission and values of the organisation. Without this level of integration, it will be a “bulky” fit, as it is viewed as an “add on”. This may lead to resistance from staff; hence, for the best results, it is important that top management sets the tone and approach to food safety culture and get staff involved. An established food safety culture is one which can demonstrate:

1. Leadership commitment

2. Effective communication

3. Employee buy-in and motivation — employee consultation and involvement

4. Refresher training and continuous learning

5. Lack of a blame culture — errors are not disregarded or hidden

In assessing a company’s food safety culture the following questions must be answered:

1. Is there a food safety policy?

2. Are food safety procedures in place and communicated to staff and visitors?

3. Do you respond to food safety issues without delay?

4. Is staff included in planning of food safety programme?

5. Has food safety risk been clearly communicated to staff?

6. Can all levels of staff explain why food safety is important to the business?

7. Are control measures in place and working as planned?

8. Are food safety and culture information clearly visible throughout the organisation?

Having a food safety culture is very important to risk management strategy and sustainability of a food business operation. Want to continue to be sustainable? Then develop a food safety culture in your organisation.