Behaviour-based systems for measuring food safety complement the normal risk-based, system and process checks, as they offer insight into what employees really think and understand about food safety.
Food safety culture in a business is how everyone (owners, managers, employees) thinks and acts in their daily job to make sure that the food they make or serve is safe. It’s about having pride in producing safe food every time, recognising that a good quality product must be safe to eat. Food safety is your top priority.
A strong food safety culture comes from people understanding the importance of making safe food and committing to doing whatever it takes, every time. It starts at the top but needs everyone’s support across the business.
A good food safety culture can protect:
- consumers from foodborne illness
- your brand’s reputation
- your business from financial loss.
Unsafe food can be linked to poor hygiene practices or mistakes by people handling food. This can occur, even when people are trained and businesses are inspected and audited. Food businesses need to focus on people as well as processes: especially what the people who handle our food know and what they do in their everyday work in their workplaces.