Building a strong food safety culture in your business

New Zealand Food Safety is proud to sponsor the Primary Sector category at this year's New Zealand Food Awards.

Regulatory compliance, food quality and safety is a critical part of the New Zealand Food Awards judging process. That’s why the month of July is dedicated to compliance checks where this years could be Finalists are reviewed by our Head Judge, Labelling Judge and New Zealand Food Safety.

Food safety is paramount for food and beverage producers and consumers alike so we asked one of our partners, New Zealand Food Safety to put together some key considerations when thinking about food safety.

New Zealand Food Safety is proud to sponsor the Primary Sector category at this year's New Zealand Food Awards.

Why food safety is so important

Consumers need to be able to trust that the food they eat is safe, suitable and accurately labelled.

Food safety is an essential component of your food production, and in maintaining and strengthening your business’ reputation.

Making sure the food you produce is safe to eat prevents serious illnesses and deaths from foodborne illness each year (particularly in vulnerable populations such as the elderly, very young, pregnant and immune-compromised people).

You also support the health and wellbeing of consumers by ensuring food you produce is suitable (that food is labelled correctly and is what it says it is) and help people make healthy food choices.

If you get food safety wrong – depending on the severity of the situation – it can have a devastating impact on your customers in terms of foodborne illness, and on your business (for example recalls, a drop in income, damage to your brand’s credibility, and loss of trust from your customers and suppliers). There is also a potential risk to New Zealand’s reputation for producing and exporting safe and top-quality food, that could have serious repercussions for trade and the economy.

The most important elements of food safety are:

• training

• washing your hands

• cleaning and sanitising

• cooking and storing food at the right temperature

• keeping cooked, raw and allergen food separate

• having controls in place to stop harmful bacteria spreading

• sourcing safe ingredients from trusted suppliers

What a good food safety culture looks like

Food safety culture is a set of behaviours that enable your team to make consistently safe and suitable food. It doesn’t have to be complicated. If you have a strong food safety culture, you will have confidence that food safety is integral to your business operations. Knowing how to lead and bring your team along on your food safety journey is key.

Through communication, intent, leadership, staff participation and delegation – you can let your team know what’s expected of them in the way of food safety practices. You can do this through regular food safety meetings, training (for example an induction course), one-on-one mentoring, online courses and modules. You can delegate tasks and list key food safety activities and/or targets on a whiteboard. You may do something else entirely that works just as well for your team.

Feedback from your team, your suppliers and your customers are also important – as they will have a different experience to you, and will be able to tell you what is or isn’t working from their perspective. They may also be able to provide you with solutions you hadn’t thought of.

Food safety culture tips

• Ensure everyone understands what’s expected of them to maintain food safety in the workplace. This should be second nature – habits should be woven into your business culture from day one.

• Train your staff (for example in person, online, modules, courses, and quizzes/games).

• Communicate with staff – listen to their ideas, encourage questions, and recognise their values.

• Give staff regular updates on food safety (even when you are under pressure) to show them that food safety should always be a priority, and you welcome their contribution to building food safety culture.

• Factor in your team’s different ways of learning (visual, verbal, written, active)

• Keep it simple, explain why, and credit them for doing things well.

Sponsor of the Primary Sector Award category

New Zealand Food Safety is a proud sponsor of the Primary Sector category. This particular category is for all primary sector food and beverage producers, researchers and manufacturers who have added value to primary products through the introduction of:

• new varieties, cultivars, or breeds, or

• new or innovative harvesting, processing, packaging or distribution channels.

Resources

For food safety resources (including posters, videos, and guidance), visit the New Zealand Food Safety website. On this page, you will find Issue 2 of the Buddy magazine which is all about food safety culture.