Despite food safety regulations and processes improving over the last several decades, foodborne illnesses have not significantly declined. This begs a critical question, which the article attempts to answer through a food safety culture lens: Are new regulations and "best practices" actually improving outcomes?

The Keynote presentation at the 2024 Food Safety Summit (FSS), titled, “Being Right is Not Enough: Leading Food Safety in a Corporate and Global Environment,” took place on Wednesday morning, presented by Mary Weaver Gertz, Chief Food Safety and Quality Assurance (FSQA) Officer at Yum! Brands Inc.

Ignoring psychosocial risks in a food business—including control and support—gives a false sense of security for leaders, who may believe that high external inspection and audit scores mean that the company has a strong food safety system and culture.
 

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we are joined by Dr. Jason Richardson, Vice President of Global Quality and Food Safety at The Coca-Cola Company, for a discussion about his work as a food safety business leader to refresh and reframe food safety culture to drive enterprise-wide optimization and growth.

This article, authored by speakers summarizing their workshop at the 2023 Food Safety Summit, explores components for food safety professional development and business management to help empower food safety leaders throughout their careers and in their day-to-day work.

A recent study from Penn State researchers has demonstrated the significant influence that an organization’s leadership style has on employees voicing their food safety concerns.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we are joined by Sherry Brice, M.B.A., Chief Supply Chain Officer at W.K. Kellogg Co. She discusses her experiences as a food safety and supply chain business leader, and shares practical strategies and considerations for other professionals in driving business value by balancing food safety priorities, supply chain requirements, and working with diverse teams.

This article takes a look at how whole-being competencies support technical leaders to shift culture through daily interactions and behaviors. As we head into 2024, it is time to move from checking boxes to doing the work of creating and implementing a solid food safety culture improvement plan. Organizations are taking this opportunity to map out how to improve food safety culture in the next year—and, hopefully, over the next several years, as culture shifts are known to take several years to see the impact. 

Edited by renowned food safety business leader and public health specialist Hal King, Ph.D., this digital book features perspectives from top food safety business leaders at best-in-class retail foodservice operations.

How would work be different if, instead of focusing on the challenges of working in silos, we built stronger leaders to effectively navigate crowd-sourcing opportunities?