Blogs

Food Safety Leader Roles, Responsibility & Authority

High performance teams have a process for managing food safety well. The key? Understand exactly who should do what in the factory. It's simple, right? Not really… It should be understood that in addition.

Everybody Can Be Responsible for Food Safety - Here's How

It’s possible to make the concept "Everybody's responsible for food safety" a reality. It’s not complicated, but it is deliberate. Giving that statement teeth is key to building a strong team and a strong food safety culture.

Defining the Role of Upper Management in Food Safety

I met a Plant Manager once who was the only person on the entire staff who knew how to operate a label printer. Labelling was quite a process in this particular industry.

One Step to Change Food Safety Culture

Nobody likes crisis but it happens. And when it does, it presents an opportunity to improve the way we manage food safety. Let’s get started on a path to a simple solid system that makes sense to everyone.

Understanding the Difference Between Competencies and Training

When we talk about competencies and training, it's easy to confuse the two. They might seem similar, but they are fundamentally different. Often, people expect the outcomes of a competency program to come from a simple training program.

What Does It Really Mean to be Committed to Food Safety?

Today, we're diving into the true meaning of being committed to food safety, which often starts at the top, with upper management. In this post, we will define management's role in food safety and explore this commitment from a management system perspective.

Are Fair Audits A Pipe Dream?

To cut right to the chase, I firmly believe achieving fair audits is not a pipe dream. I've seen enough fair audits to confidently say they’re possible. However, I've also witnessed a significant number of unfair audits, which makes people understandably skeptical about the possibility of achieving fairness during audits.

Enhancing Your Internal Audit Program: Tips for Meaningful, Efficient, and Compliant Practices

Internal audits are often touted as one of the most powerful programs within a company’s toolkit, especially in an industry like food manufacturing where compliance and efficiency are critical. Yet, it’s not uncommon for teams to find internal audits more painful than productive.

What is a Vertical Audit?

Internal audits are essential in ensuring the integrity and efficiency of various systems and programs, especially in food safety management. In this blog post, we will dive into the concept of vertical audits—a method that might be new to you, but is incredibly effective in providing a rapid overview of your records. Let’s break it down step-by-step.

Does a New Product Mean a New HACCP Plan?

So you operate a chocolate chip cookie plant. You have all of your prerequisite programs in place (sanitization, packaging, new equipment checklist, etc.), a strong HACCP plan, and your plant functions safely, smoothly, and efficiently. The good news is that your chocolate chip cookies are so popular that you decide to add a new line of cookies!

HACCP in a Minute: The Essentials of Food Safety

In the fast-paced world of food production, ensuring food safety is of paramount importance. One of the most critical tools in this endeavour is HACCP, which stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. Think of it as the language of food safety. In this blog post, we'll break down the essential components of HACCP and how it helps keep our food safe.

Understanding HACCP (You Only Need to Know So Much)

Information overload is a major issue when it comes to understanding HACCP. That’s because most HACCP training programs attempt to cover everything under the sun, and that’s simply too much information for the average person to take in.