Six Steps to To Cultivate Food Safety Culture Across Your Business

Author Christy Draus Head of Marketing

Where Food Safety Culture Starts

A strong food safety culture is more important than ever  along with the ongoing need to protect food from hazards—but where does that begin? A shared philosophy is at the core of an organization’s food safety culture, led at the top and shared by employees at all levels and enables a company to stay compliant with standards and requirements. Investing in food safety measures, like advanced inspection systems, confirms a company’s across-the-board commitment to food safety.

Why Safety Culture Matters

Global threats to public health such as 2020’s COVID-19 outbreak underscore the importance of working together in a collaborative way for a safe environment. As food safety standards become more stringent, one thing is clear: meeting these standards and performing due diligence is not simply a one-person job, but a unified effort. A shared commitment to safety and health is important in a facility dedicated to producing safe, high quality food products. And the facts are sobering: The U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that one in six Americans get sick from contaminated foods or beverages each year and approximately 3,000 die from consuming contaminated goods. To avoid becoming one of the businesses associated with these tragically fatal flaws, it’s crucial to ensure that your entire team understands the significance of their actions and thereby acts with a sense of duty.

How A Collective Culture Mitigates Risks & Boosts Safety

A collective culture helps an organization prevent, address and overcome a range of issues that impact the safety of both employees and products bound for consumers. The same approach to being mindful and taking measures to protect the health and wellbeing of others can sustain a business through typical day-to-day operations and emergent health crises for producing high quality products free from hazards.

How crucial is this shared philosophy?

There’s a reason why so many safety bodies have required or recommended having a strong food safety culture in place, including GFSI, BRCGS Issue 8, Codex Alimentarius, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and European Union, among others.

How Food Businesses Can Build A Strong Safety Culture

Here are six steps you can take to create a strong culture within your organization:

1. Define it: Food safety culture sounds like a broad term, but its definition in the context of food production environments is specific: food safety culture includes the food safety attitudes, values, and beliefs shared by those within the organization and reflect its commitment to effective, across-the-board food safety management. The Food Safety Culture Excellence Module put forth by the BRCGS spans People, Process, Purpose and Proactivity further defines food safety culture, and applies to the protection of food from contaminants as well as the response to viral outbreaks. Ask yourself: are these definitions understood by all management and employees? Share bulletins, and host regular training and retraining sessions to help keep safety at top of mind for your team.
   
2. Align it: The key to a strong food safety culture is the shared mindset, whether that’s led by the CEO, plant manager or machine operator. Employees at every level should understand what food safety culture is and why it’s important to follow protocols that improve it. This can be shared through formal food safety training programs, regular small workshops or team building-sessions, and even in something as simple as signage in a break room. Assembling a food safety team that is representative of many levels within a company can also assure that messages are being shared as comprehensively as possible. Are you taking opportunities to ensure that your organization’s food safety culture approach is shared throughout the organization? An accountability chart can help keep your team on track at all levels.
   
3. Make it top-down: The initiative should be leadership-driven. Company executives and management must continually serve as good examples and reinforce the importance of “walking the walk” among employees.
   
4. Open it up: Transparency is important in a food safety culture, as it is with any company-wide initiative. A reliable assessment of food safety culture hinges on the ability of employees to honestly share their concerns, including in an anonymous way. To do this, many manufacturers offer surveys and other forms that assess food safety measures in place and progress toward shared food safety goals.
   
5. Break it down: Every employee has an opportunity – and an obligation – to adhere to food safety standards and practices. Those who operate and maintain vital equipment such as x-ray inspection machines need to be up-to-date on proper operation and training and understand the capabilities and features of all systems. For advanced inspection systems, Eagle’s Training Academy includes courses and instruction on regulatory compliance, radiation safety, maintenance and machine care, and more.
   
6. Invest in it: Proper equipment, including advanced inspection systems, should be put in place throughout the line. X-ray inspection systems are considered an integral part of corrective and preventive actions for food safety. Having these systems in place also demonstrates the shared commitment to improving food safety by reducing risks and helps ensure that a company is complying with requirements relating to food safety culture. During audits to the BRCGS standard, for example, a manufacturer must show that they have verified the effectiveness of actions that have been taken so far.

Even in trying circumstances, you can take new steps to ensure that your organization is adhering to a strong culture. For example, options for certifications to standards grew to include remote and blended options. By emphasizing your strong food safety culture among everyone from newly hired employees to seasoned veterans and putting visible measures into place to reduce hazards including physical contaminants, your company can stay compliant while your consumers enjoy safe, high quality products.

Looking to invest in your inspection line? Find out if Eagle’s advanced inspection systems are right for you. Fill out the form below and an x-ray expert will reach out to you.

FAQS of Food Safety Culture

1. What is food safety culture?

Food safety culture refers to the shared attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors within an organization that prioritize food safety. It reflects leadership commitment and employee buy-in at every level to ensure safe production practices and compliance with regulatory standards.

2. Why is food safety culture important for food manufacturers?

A strong food safety culture helps reduce contamination risks, protect consumers, and maintain compliance with standards such as FSMA, GFSI, BRCGS, and FDA requirements. It also strengthens accountability, improves audit performance, and minimizes costly recalls or reputational damage.

3. How can a company improve its food safety culture?

Organizations can strengthen food safety culture by defining clear expectations, aligning leadership and staff, encouraging transparency, conducting regular food safety culture training, performing food safety risk assessments, and investing in advanced inspection systems and equipment.

4. What role does training play in food safety culture?

Food safety culture training ensures employees understand safety protocols, equipment operation, and compliance requirements. Ongoing training and retraining sessions help reinforce best practices, reduce human error, and keep food safety top of mind across all departments.