Why implementing a culture of food safety is so important
/Despite Australia’s Food Safety Standards requiring foodservice businesses to implement training, conduct food safety supervision and show evidence of safe practices, our foodborne illness rates remain high – with foodservice and food retail overrepresented in outbreak data.
Andrew Thomson
That’s the word from Andrew Thomson, whose business Think ST Solutions supports foodservice management and staff with the development of tools, resources and food safety strategies. Andrew argues that foodservice operators should see this as good business practice and a sound investment.
Listen to the podcast
“If there’s poor communication, lack of trust or low morale, it will affect food safety too”
“A strong food safety culture does more than just protect your customers – businesses with a clear safety focus build stronger reputations, recover faster from food safety incidents and maintain the loyalty of customers,” he says. “It also boosts team engagement, cuts staff turnover and reduces the cost and chaos of food safety failures. And most importantly, it shifts leaders from being reactive to proactive and forward-looking.”
Andrew points out that government agency FSANZ (Food Standards Australia New Zealand) has reported a significant proportion of foodborne illness outbreaks are linked to poor practices in cafes, restaurants, takeaways and small retail business. “If we want to reduce outbreaks and build safer, more resilient food businesses, it starts with leadership, culture and doing things differently. Food safety culture starts at the top – not just with what leaders say but how they act, respond and support their teams. If there’s poor communication, lack of trust or low morale, it will affect food safety too.
Set standards with staff
“Foodservice business owners and team leaders need to share their vision and set standards with their staff, which means having clear and open dialogue. Ideally you want to enshrine a culture of food safety across the whole business strategy – so that it starts with your very first interaction with new staff. You want to make sure you’re hiring people not just for their skillset but their values – people who take food safety seriously and will be a good fit for your business culture. A strong induction program which makes clear your expectations around food safety from day one can help set the tone.”
“Culture is strongest when everyone has a common understanding of the why behind food safety”
Having everyone in the business on the same page makes for a strong food safety culture. “Culture is strongest when everyone from frontline staff to leaders has a common understanding of the why behind food safety, clear and consistent expectations of what good practice looks like, and a shared sense of responsibility – that ‘we all own this’,” Andrew says. “Then you get peer-level reinforcement, which prevents slips from turning into bad habits and builds team cohesion. Staff members will feel confident pulling each other up – not just ‘did you wash your hands?’ but ‘remember to change your gloves, we’re all trying to stay on top of this’. Leaders need to train and support teams to give and receive feedback that uses respectful language – it doesn’t come naturally to everyone.”
Andrew emphasises that the focus should be on building a culture dedicated to continuous improvement: “We need to recognise that no workplace is perfect – culture is always evolving and needs regular attention. To this end, leaders should actively invite feedback: ‘what could we be doing better?’ or ‘have you seen any shortcuts we should talk about?’ It’s also a good idea to celebrate small wins – like staff identifying and fixing a flaw in process – as a sign that your food safety focus is paying off.”
“Generic training often fails to translate into safe practices”
He also warns against relying too heavily on online learning resources as a means to educate staff on food safety, as opposed to taking a hands-on approach. “Online learning tends to be knowledge-based, and there’s a growing body of research that argues we don’t change our behaviours simply by acquiring knowledge – rather, we need to be encouraged to put what we’ve learnt into practice. This is why it’s important to communicate expectations to staff, to provide support such as by giving time for them to develop skills and so on. It’s not a question of just directing people to an online resource so you can say ‘I’ve ticked that box and now I don’t need to worry’.
“Generic training often fails to translate into safe practices—effective programs require a thoughtful, tailored approach that reflects the unique workflows, equipment, risks and day-to-day realities of each site.”
Mindset of complacency
Andrew has co-authored papers and articles with several academics, including Dr Douglas Powell, a Professor of Microbial Food Safety who was formerly on faculty at the University of Guelph in Canada, followed by 10 years at Kansas State University in the US before emigrating to Australia and settling in Brisbane. Having taught food safety for more than 30 years, he argues there is a mindset of complacency in many foodservice businesses. “I get frustrated that it’s the same stories over and over again and people act like this is something new when it’s not. My bottom line has always been that if you’re serving food to the public, or even to your neighbours or your kids, you have a responsibility to make sure it’s safe and you’re doing the right thing.
“While there are no deaths it’s hard to get people to pay enough attention to food safety”
Dr DOUGLAS POWELL
“Back in 1994 there was a food poisoning outbreak in South Australia where one child died and 23 others developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome from eating mettwurst contaminated with E coli bacteria. That was a moment when the public sat up and took notice but it’s sad to say that it takes something like this to shake people out of their complacency. While there are no deaths it’s hard to get people to pay enough attention to food safety.”
Douglas makes the point that in US cities like New York and Los Angeles, businesses serving food to the public are required by law to display a letter grade (A, B or C) based on their FDA Food Code safety inspection scores. “This is also mandatory in Canada – in big cities like Toronto they use red, yellow or green signage and it’s all on public display. What we found with FDA inspections in the US is that management hated getting a lousy grade and having to put B or C on the wall. So they would instil a food safety culture in their employees – and not just for when the inspector came around, they did it for real.
“We have a lot of food poisoning outbreaks here ... but there’s very low level of public awareness”
“But when you come to Australia and go to Sydney or Brisbane, the system is voluntary and if you get a poor grade you don’t have to post it, which to me defeats the purpose. These cities rely heavily on tourism and you don’t want to make your tourists sick. We have a lot of food poisoning outbreaks here, I hear about them because I have friends in microbiology, but there’s very low level of public awareness. The first most people hear of them is when they reach court, which takes months and those businesses are still serving food in the meantime.”
Back to square one post-Covid
Douglas says one of the reasons food safety has a lower profile in Australia than the US is our public health system.
“Until very recently the US had no public healthcare to speak of, which means that cases of food poisoning over there tend to spark lawsuits because people need that monetary compensation to pay for their medical bills. Those lawsuits generate media coverage and so there’s a much higher level of public awareness.”
He acknowledges that Covid raised awareness locally of the basics of food safety, such as handwashing and disinfecting surfaces, but argues that with the departure of staff from the industry during lockdowns, many foodservice businesses had to go back to square one upon re-opening, with new staff having to be taught from the ground up.
“Of course if you ask people ‘do you wash your hands?’ they are going to say yes”
Handwashing has long been a bugbear of food safety. “I was involved in a hospital food safety study in the US, when one of the major insurers said they would no longer cover hospital acquired infections. The hospitals said, ‘our handwashing rates are 90 per cent’ – but their statistics were based on surveys and of course if you ask people ‘do you wash your hands?’ they are going to say yes. So we trained nurses and staff to spy on their co-workers and it turned out the actual handwashing rate was around 30 to 40 per cent.
“We’ve done restaurant studies where we put people back of house and it’s the same – instead of washing their hands, staff were wiping them with those damn rags which are already covered in germs.
“I have two daughters who work in foodservice and they see this sort of thing too. We’re talking about simple things but people are reluctant to do them and I don’t really know why.
“Another example is using a digital thermometer to check the internal temperature of cooked food – I feel naked when I cook without one, because I want the data. I don’t trust colour because it’s a lousy indicator - beef can be pink and still safe, you need to know the internal temperature.”
When it comes to implementing food safety reform, cost remains an obstacle – and not just for foodservice businesses. “The head of food safety of a local supermarket chain once looked me up and we spent three hours walking around the store pointing out what could be done better. In the US when you go to the meat counter there’s a roll of plastic bags, because it doesn’t matter how well you wrap it, it’s going to leak. So you put the wrapped package into a plastic bag.
“I suggested that they do that here and initially they said ‘that’s a good idea’ but when I talked to them later they told me it would cost half a cent per bag, which was too much. And I just rolled my eyes.”
