Feb 12, 2015
By: Hilary Thesmar, PhD, RD, FMI Vice President, Food Safety Programs, Food Marketing Institute
Providing safe products to customers is a top priority for retailers and customers expect that the food they are purchasing is safe. Customer demands are always changing and retailers are constantly trying to meet their needs.
Demand for local food continues to grow with the greatest growth occurring in the produce sector. The Produce product category offers unique challenges to meeting customers demand for fresh local products while maintaining the food safety assurances we need to help protect our customers.
In January 2014, FMI in partnership with Produce Marketing Association and United Fresh Produce Association, published a Produce Safety Best Practices Guide for Retailers. The step-based program serves as a tool for both food safety and non-food safety retail employees focusing on building existing food safety programs.
A few weeks ago at the Board Food Safety Committee in Miami, FL, we highlighted the following three action steps as a starting point for implementing the produce safety best practices.
1. Share Produce Safety Guide with Your Team
Food safety should be integrated into departments outside of Food Safety/QA. Managers, buyers, quality assurance/food safety teams, suppliers, are just a few departments who play some role in the safety of produce—from the farm to the customer point of purchase. To effectively create an environment that truly embraces food safety, in this case produce safety, an organization must create a system-based approach to food safety. An approach where produce best practices are incorporated into a department’s function and operation and where best practices become a set of shared values. Throughout the supply chain, food safety is commonly referred to as a “shared responsibility.” This holds true across an organization, each department shares the responsibility to ensuring the safety of the food they sell.
2. Appoint a Project Lead
Empower a representative (project lead) who will ensure suppliers meet your company’s produce safety standards and fully adopt best practices. Implementing produce safety best practices is dependent on a leader who will drive change across an organization. The project lead will be responsible for bringing an organization’s produce safety goals to fruition. Throughout the process, the lead will continuously communicate will all stakeholders to identify any gaps and troubleshoot issues that arise.
3. Make sure Growers have Food Safety Plans
It is imperative that all growers supplying your stores have food safety plans. Often, small growers lack the resources (e.g., financial, man-power, expertise, etc.) to create and adopt food safety plans. Retailers can play an integral role in assisting growers in understanding the importance of having a food safety plan and by sharing resources to help small growers develop food safety plans and attain safety standards, such as Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs).
All parties (e.g., growers, suppliers, retailers, etc.) must proactively take preventive measures to reduce the risk of foodborne illness. A written food safety plan is the foundation of building a preventive food safety system and communication is an essential part of this system. By engaging in a two-way dialogue, retailers can ensure all requirements and specifications are clearly and fairly communicated, as well as, identify needs for food safety training.