World Food Safety Day: What Does Food Safety Culture Mean to You?

For the World Health Organization's World Food Safety Day, we're sharing a sneak peek a the results from our recent food safety culture survey.

World Food Safety Day
World Food Safety Day
Waseem Ali Khan

Earlier this spring, Quality Assurance & Food Safety magazine surveyed employees of food manufacturing facilities, including farms, to get a sense of what food safety culture looks like on a practical level.

For World Food Safety Day today, we're sharing a sneak peek at some of the results from a recent survey we conducted on food safety culture. Among the questions, we asked respondents what food safety culture meant to them. Below are some of the more than 40 anonymous responses. To see the full results from the survey, check out the May/June issue when hits mailboxes and inboxes later this month. 

"The common instinct among a group of food employees that compels them to do the right thing despite it being more cumbersome or inconvenient. Prerequisite: They know what is the right thing to do.”

"Say what you do, do what you say, prove it. Everyone buys in to doing things the right way.”

"It is very important to me as I’m the QA/QC manager, but it is difficult when not all employees are able to see what could happen. They need to not only know why to do something but also the reason why you do something.”

"Buy in from all levels of employees (janitor to CEO) of ‘thinking food safety’ with all levels of decisions.”

"Lead by example. Encourage employee growth by allowing employee input and participation.”

"It means putting thought and effort into making certain that the foods we produce will not cause harm to anyone for any reason.”

"It’s establishing a food safety system that comes as naturally as breathing within your manufacturing facility with all parties involved and each one happy to be doing their part, hence why it becomes culture. It’s all a giant group effort that works!”

"To have an establishment where food safety is the common ground between management and employee that encompasses all aspects of the product you make.”