The term ‘Food Safety Behaviours’ is frequently being seen across the food and food related media.
This is not a new concept. It is becoming more important for many reasons especially for Food Safety Accreditation, such as, BRCGS or SALSA Certification.
They are often linked with values, ethics and attitudes.
Defining Food Safety Behaviours
Behaviours are about how things are done in any system, culture or process. They are key to overall business success. Therefore, certain behaviours within a business culture can determine the success or failure of a food safety culture.
It is, therefore, critical for a site to choose relevant behaviours that will have that positve impact on product safety.
Identifying Positive Behaviours
Behaviours can be simply identified by an owner or manager’s knowledge of the site, through results from a site survey, or through other indicators of behaviours and attitudes which exist at a site.
These other indicates are not the culture itself. However, they show the prevailing attitudes of how much importance is placed on a specific product safety activity. They also show compliance levels.
All identified behaviours can be incorporated into a safety culture plan or Culture of Excellence Plan (CEP) and it’s on-going improvement.
Behaviours & Accreditation
Safety culture implementation is now part of major UK and Global food safety standards, for example, BRCGS and SALSA. For example, for BRCGS Accreditation, a site must have a CEP in place with, at least, an annual review carried out. If a CEP is not in place, this will be marked as a major non-conformance by an auditor.
In order to achieve accreditation, a site can look at several factors which can be examples of their attitudes towards product safety. They can then help in the the formulation of a CEP. Examples can include a written food safety policy, food safety resources, food safety in management meetings, risk awareness (HACCP development), how corrective and preventative actions are dealt with, internal audits and finally training.
Remember, these activities are not the food safety culture itself but they are examples of product safety behaviours at the site and all vital in the accreditation process.
Leadership & Positive Behaviours
Behaviours are not only vital to the accreditation process, they are essential for an effective (legal) food safety system to operate. They are at the core of risk and control assessment and planning.
Positive behaviours begin with the leadership in a food business. Simple questions to answer are how do the senior team resource and value food safety? What are their attitudes to staff training? Do they seek staff opinions regarding food safety? If so, what do they do with the findings?
Leadership teams can be mentored regarding food safety behaviours and attitudes. These concepts are often intangible, yet have to be measured and incorporated into overall management plans. This is especially true in the certification process.
Seeking outside expert guidance can make this process much less challenging. Guides are available from Food Standard Bodies, such as, BRCGS.
Understanding the importance of positive food safety behaviours in product safety is the first step in developing a powerful food safety culture.
