New global guidance from BSI promotes positive food safety culture

According to data form the World Health Organisation (WHO), food poisoning results in an estimated 600m people falling ill every year, leading to 420,000 deaths. Hoping to resolve this issue, a round-table discussion took place at the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) Annual Meeting in 2019.

This has led to the release of the document ‘Developing and sustaining a mature food safety culture’ (PAS 320), which is designed to guide organisations across the food & drink and retail sectors to create a culture where all employees embrace food safety and are empowered to initiate change.

A food safety culture that prioritizes people and supports collaboration in manufacturing facilities, food service businesses, restaurants and retail stores can help improve product quality, mitigate the risks of contamination or recalls, and also benefit productivity and talent retention.

Developed in collaboration with industry giants including Walmart, McDonald’s, PepsiCo, HelloFresh, Kerry Foods and 3M, the new guidance published by BSI last week revealed that human error rather than failures of machinery or technology is the common factor in food safety incidents, quality failures and recalls. Equally, when issues occur, people are the key to avoiding recurrence.

The guidance is based on extensive sector discussions on food safety culture, including what it is, how to measure it and how to ensure continuous improvements. The document defines the term as the ‘shared values, beliefs and norms that affect mindset and behaviour toward food safety in, across and throughout an organization’.

Moreover, it states that creating and maintaining a strong culture that preserves quality and reduces risk requires management commitment and a mindset that safety is the responsibility of everyone at every stage of the food supply chain. Culture is also highlighted as key for employee retention, improving quality and lowering contamination risk by decreasing turnover rate.

The document also includes a step-by-step guide on identifying gaps and implementing a strategy for change. It makes recommendations related to:

• Leadership
• The organization’s vision, mission, values and policy
• Organisational structure
• Responsibilities
• Accountabilities and authorities
• Guiding coalition team
• Interested parties
• Change champions
• Influencers
• Food safety documentation

The guidance also includes advice on how prioritizing people in the sector not only supports improved food safety, but also brings other benefits including investment return, business performance improvement, reduction of the costs associated with poor quality, and enhanced efficiency.

Neil Coole, director of Food and Retail Supply Chains at BSI, commented: “A positive food safety culture that prioritizes people and gives everyone a stake in driving quality can have a transformative effect and help reduce the risk that comes from unsafe food.

“This starts with leadership taking steps to turn ambition into action in order to build and sustain continuous improvements across their organization and the wider supply chain.

“Ultimately, moving from seeing food safety culture as a compliance issue to an investment in people can offer huge benefits for individuals, organizations and society as a whole.”

Scott Steedman, general director of Standards at BSI, added: “It is tragic that so many lives are lost globally every year to contaminated food. This is something nobody in the industry can ignore and urgent steps to change this are required.

“Enabling a robust food safety culture is vital for enhancing quality and safety across the food sector. Strengthening understanding of what best practice looks like and how everyone in the food sector can play a role, by enhancing global consistency and offering clarity, can help food sector organizations accelerate change and support the realization of quality and food safety ambitions.

“This new standard on food safety culture can build confidence in the global food industry and offer long-term benefit for everyone,” he concluded.