September is National Food Safety Month, an excellent opportunity to open up a dialogue on the topic between managers, employees, and consumers.
Here we rounded up five resources for you to reference as you discuss food safety within your company.
1. Food Safety Matters Podcast
Source: Food Safety Magazine
Twice a month, the editorial team from Food Safety Magazine invites a food safety professional onto the podcast to take a deep dive into the timely topics that matter most in the industry. Some things they’ve covered so far are FSMA compliance, transportation and distribution, and facility sanitation. Each episode is about an hour long, so it’s easy to fit in during a commute!
Listen to the first episode here.
2. Food Safety Matters Webinars
Source: Ecolab
The Food Safety Matters webinar series (unrelated to the podcast above), hosted quarterly by Ecolab, comprises free presentations that feature food industry, academic, regulatory, and culinary experts. Every presentation covers a food safety topic like food safety trends, hand care, and labeling programs. If you miss one, don’t worry — they archive the webinars so you can watch them on demand.
Watch the webinar “Components of a Strong Safety Program” here.
3. Food Safety Quiz
Source: MySafetySign.com
Useful from both a food industry professional and consumer perspective, this food safety quiz is chock-full of information that can sometimes bury itself in FDA regulatory articles.
As you move through the questions, you can see how many total responses have been collected and the percentage of people that answered correctly.
Start the quiz here.
4. Production and Inspection Fact Sheets
Source: United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service
When it comes to keeping production facilities sanitary, surviving surprise inspections, and navigating recalls, knowledge really is power. And there’s no better way to pick up on the details pertaining to food safety than having an arsenal of reliable fact sheets to reference.
Here are some topics covered in the USDA’s Production and Inspection Fact Sheets archive:
- Inspection for Food Safety: The Basics — A quick guide about the inspection process.
- FSIS Food Recalls — Presents a Q&A about the food recall process.
- Appealing Inspection Decisions — Helps small and very small plants understand the process of appealing inspection decisions made by FSIS personnel.
The USDA offers fact sheets on more topics like Foodborne Illness and Emergency Preparedness that are also worth checking out. Peruse their library here.
5. Food Safety = Behavior: 30 Proven Techniques to Enhance Employee Compliance (Food Microbiology and Food Safety)
Written by Frank Yiannas
Ready to go beyond the facts and best practices about food safety? Crack open this book to explore the nuances. In this book, the author suggests that human behavior and organizational culture can improve food safety. About 100 pages long, this short book offers up plenty of practical techniques to enhance your food safety programs.
