2 Creating a Food Safety Culture: Considerations for Pre – Planning

Before any development of a plan can be done, there are several questions that the organization should ask themselves:

1. What type of food service operation is the organization? What services are provided to the guest or client? The more services provided, the more opportunity there will be to engage in food safety practices.
2. What is the existing food safety culture and is it being executed as intended? If so, how much input do line level employees have in the communication of the company values of food safety? If not, why is the operation choosing now to implement a cultural shift?
3. How much time, money, and effort is the organization going to devote to Food Safety and building an inclusive Food Safety Culture? It is one thing for an organization to say they believe in food safety and keeping their employees and guests safe, but it is another to invest in the tools necessary to execute strong food safety practices. Will you have true and committed buy-in on all levels?
4. At what level of the organization will the assessment of the Food Safety Culture begin?  A strong Food Safety Culture MUST begin at the top of the organization – this must consist of the management and owners. Employees will follow by example; they will model behaviors and attitudes demonstrated by management and owners e. If management and owners believe that a strong culture of food safety is necessary to move the operation to the next level, they need to model this behavior both inside and outside the operation.
5. Does the operation have a Compliance Manager dedicated to Food Safety Culture? Will the Compliance Manager have the authority to reward or issue consequences to employees on all levels when proper food safety practices are not being executed according to the established standard?
6. How will the Compliance Manager ensure that the organization continues to have a strong food safety culture?

It should be noted there are no clear nor correct answers to these questions, but it is important for the operation to know exactly where they are with their existing food safety culture in the eyes of everyone who works there, why they are implementing a cultural shift and what role the Compliance Manager will play in establishing and executing a Food Safety Culture.

Once the organization has a clear view of the questions above, they can begin to construct of Food Safety Culture Plan following the steps presented below.