A well-defined vision and set of values provide a framework for aligning all members of an organization towards a common goal and creating a strong, positive food safety culture.
Is food safety among those values? How do you formalize food safety as a value? What behaviors represent food safety as a value? How does food safety as a value shape organizational policies and processes?
If food safety is not a value for your organization, consider ways to engage with senior leadership, quality and food safety leaders, and frontline leaders to define food safety and food safety culture goals and commitments. Everyone at a food company works with food, whether directly or indirectly. The success of the organization, from brand protection to consumer relationships, is deeply tied to safety and quality of food—and therefore to your food safety culture.
Define your vision for food safety culture at your organization. Consider beginning by evaluating where you are currently in your food safety culture journey through surveys, observations, or other methods of assessment. Models like the one below, can help identify behaviors and attitudes at different levels of food safety culture maturity (5). Once you know where you are starting, you can begin planning for where you wish to go.
What does a strong, positive food safety culture look like for your organization? What are the long-term goals you want to achieve regarding food safety and food safety culture?
As you work towards your vision for food safety culture at your organization, people and processes will be integral in affecting change.
What behaviors exemplify your food safety culture values and vision? What new or existing systems (e.g., training, standard operating procedures) will help support those behaviors?
Who will be the leaders, both formal and informal, who will embody and model your food safety culture values and vision? Are there people already modeling this culture, and if so, how will you engage and elevate these champions? How will you involve and create ownership for employees across all levels and functions in shaping food safety culture? How will you reinforce and embed values into all employee’s daily activities? Prepare Your Team
How will you communicate your food safety culture values and vision to all members of your organization? How will you communicate goals, changes, and outcomes? Communication
How will you assess your food safety culture against your values and vision? How will assessment contribute to accountability, continuous improvement, and re-evaluation of your values and vision? Assessment
The above maturity model may make food safety culture seem linear, moving from point A to point B, but the journey never truly ends. Organizations slide back and forth within the model, affected by the ever-changing and unpredictable nature of business. Using a system which builds in trial, error, and evaluation will help you respond to these shifts and adapt along your journey (adapted from the Demming Wheel).
Progress requires a degree of failure, which then creates learning opportunities to build upon for continuous improvement. Approaching and modeling food safety culture as an ongoing, iterative process will help encourage creative thinking and innovation and maintain commitment to your vision.
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