Article
7 Elements of a Food Safety Culture
17 AUG 2021
/
3 min read

A strong culture of food safety ensures that a high level of standards are set for all food and safety processes. It can help facilities prevent deviations that impact the safety, quality, and legality of their products, and extends to how employees view their roles and the organization’s role in food safety. Education and training on food safety requirements is essential to mitigate risk and it helps employees to comply with rules and regulations. Failure to do so could result in costly food recalls.
Benefits of Maintaining Food Safety Standards
When everyone in an organization understands and embraces how critical their roles are in maintaining food safety, the overall risk of poor products diminishes. The time and effort spent in properly educating, training, and valuing employees at every level will pay off in reduced recalls and the impacts of contaminated food.
Building and maintaining a proactive and committed food safety culture can be achieved by following several steps.
How to Establish a Food Safety Culture

1. Ensure that training and education programs are easily understood by all. Common tactics to achieve a knowledge base are avoiding language barriers and making sure everyone understands any jargon used, holding refresher courses for all personnel, making sessions brief, and scheduling sessions at the beginning or end of shifts.

2. Reinforce that food safety, and compliance with existing rules and regulations can save lives. During education sessions, provide examples of patients impacted by preventable foodborne illnesses and highlight how it affected their lives. Cite what can happen if processes and procedures are not followed.

3. Document complete processes and procedures to comply with food safety rules. Documentation of procedures can help personnel stay mindful and reduce risk. Being able to refer to well-documented checklists can also be helpful if an employee is confused or unsure about something. All documents should be part of a continuous improvement process. Any change in a process should be communicated to all personnel.

4. Remind employees that food safety begins and ends with them as individuals. Instill a personal sense of responsibility in their food safety role. Foster a sense of pride for operations running smoothly and for keeping food safety risk minimal. Emphasize the rewards of a focus on prevention.

5. Encourage a “If you see something, say something” environment for corrective actions. Have a reward-based system in lieu of a punitive system for reporting concerns. Praise individuals who discover a flaw in the process or daily operations as opposed to punishing employees who might make a mistake. Show personnel that management takes their concerns seriously and addresses them quickly and thoroughly to prevent product recalls.

6. Be open to “safety stand downs” at the workplace for review of processes. Even if there have not been any recent issues, hold regular sessions with employees to avoid mishaps in food safety management. If there have been incidents (even if it did not result in a recall), review with staff how to proactively avoid these in the future.

7. Management should walk the walk, not just talk the talk. Make sure management is always aware of issues that impact food safety. Speak with staff about challenges or opportunities in their roles as food safety stewards. Reinforce staff roles in preserving the food safety culture and how they can impact consumers. Send out Food Safety Culture surveys to staff members to ensure they understand and adopt food safety measures to protect their products.
Related
Tags
Sharpen your
view of risk
Subscribe to our newsletter to receive our analysts’ latest insights in your inbox every week.
Intelligence & Insights
Intelligence
Worth Gathering
Employing a team of 200+ analysts around the world, Crisis24 is the only source you need for on-point, actionable insights on any risk-related topic.

Intelligence Analysis
Impact of Cuts to Forecasting Services Uncertain During Above-Average US Hurricane Season
The 2025 Atlantic Hurricane season is forecast to see above-average levels of storm activity and recent cuts to services may impact the ability of forecasters.
By Charles Hogger
June 30, 2025

Intelligence Analysis
Critical Alert: Iran-Israel Armed Conflict
Crisis24 Alert | Middle East: Ceasefire continues to hold in Iran-Israel Conflict
June 25, 2025

Intelligence Analysis
Evolving North Korean Ghost Worker Threat Underscores Global Dynamic Risk Environment
North Korean “ghost workers” use fake identities and documents to secure remote IT jobs, posing legal, financial, and reputational risks to organizations.
By Jonathan Vincent
June 25, 2025

Intelligence Analysis
Gulf States: Impact of the Iran-Israel Conflict on the Gulf Cooperation Council
Amid Iran-Israel tensions, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is unlikely to experience sustained disruptions beyond residual flight delays and heightened security measures.
June 24, 2025