In 2018, GFSI released a position paper “A Culture of Food Safety,” which defined five dimensions of the food safety culture: Vision and Mission, People, Consistency, Adaptability, Hazard and Risk Awareness. When we look to GFSI’s five dimensions of food safety culture, we can identify several ways that The Why of Food Safety – Become the SLO initiative can have a positive impact, particularly on the first two.
Vision and mission addresses business reasons to exist. I am sure that no organization’s mission or vision in this sector include harming consumers, as people are the critical component of food safety and the recipients of The Why of Food Safety – Become the SLO initiative. The document also defines food safety culture as shared values, beliefs, and norms that affect mindset and behavior toward food safety in, across and throughout an organization.
Can you see how aligned The Why of Food Safety – Become the SLO initiative is with GFSI’s food safety culture definition? People must understand and believe that what they do (norms) matter for saving people’s lives. Giving people this higher mission will definitely imprint a new mindset and collaborative behavior in the organization—after all, we are consumers too! One day, our own loved ones may end up in a hospital bed with food poisoning because they ate unsafe food, right?