Every running car needs petrol or fuel to even start and then keep going. Even far more than that, all people need food to keep alive, keep going and developing as human beings to produce more food, better and enjoy their environment.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics showed that one in ten people suffers sickness from intermediary processed or prepared food. This could be related to personal or organisational hygiene and practices and other reasons, in the food supply chain.
Hence, the critical question about the prevailing food safety culture, where culture is taken in the broader sociopolitical, economic and scientific sense.
The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) recently published its position paper titled, “A Culture of Food Safety”, which was developed by its Technical Working group created since 2015. The group talked extensively to scientists and practitioners in the field as part of their work. Five critical areas were identified:
- the vision and mission of the organisation or undertaking
- the people – stakeholders, governance, communication, learning, incentives, rewards and recognition
- adaptability – agility, change, crisis management and problem solving
- consistency – accountability, performance measurement and documentation
- hazard and risk awareness – importance, information, training and education
GFSI is coordinated by the Food Business Forum (CIES) consisting of around 400 retailers and manufacturers worldwide. The five critical dimensions are elaborated in the guidance published by GFSI.
www.mygfsi.com
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