Produce safety professionals weigh in on biggest needs
What is the one thing produce safety professionals need the most?
That was a question The Packer asked food safety professionals in January. Fourteen responded and their answers point to the need for influence in the executive suite, food safety training, effective handling of data, patience with food safety research, urgency in responding to food safety problems and more.
Support from senior management is one key need, said Gale Prince, president of Your Food Safety Coach LLC.
“Nearly all produce companies have added food safety people,” Prince said.
Food safety professionals have big responsibility but that is not always followed with management support.
“For example, in the food industry the most frequent deficiencies identified in FDA facility (inspections) is lack for maintaining food facility and equipment in a sanitary condition.”
That is usually related to a failure to maintain and reinvest in operations to protect food during processing and storage, Prince said.
Food safety professionals know the ins and outs of their companies and can save their companies millions of dollars in liability with some of their suggestions, said Rebecca Anderson, technical manager for GlobalG.A.P.
“Food safety demands attention and these professionals need the support of the C-suite to ensure their programs operate effectively,” Anderson said.
The importance of food safety training cannot be overstated, said Tim York, CEO of the California Leafy Greens Marketing Association.
“The LGMA offers a robust training program for employees throughout the leafy greens industry,” he said.
“Training should always be emphasized — not just for produce safety professionals but to everyone who works to grow, process and sell food.”
Food safety professionals need a sound background in the science of food safety and practical knowledge of the risk factors for the systems for which they are responsible, said food safety consultant Trevor Suslow.
“The ability and competency in risk identification and assessment of dynamic risk exposure is essential,” Suslow said.
Food safety professionals need patience with a thread of urgency, said Jeff Hall, food safety specialist with the Canadian Produce Marketing Association.
“Food safety is based on science and science can be a slow process,” Hall said. The creation, consolidation and distribution of new science takes time from both development to implementation, he said.
“That being said, a food safety professional must also be able to react quickly and precisely when an emergency situation arises like a potentially life threatening product recall event.”
Susan Leaman, vice president of iDecisionSciences LLC, said food safety professionals need data that is easier to handle.
“There is too much information retained in a format that makes it worthless after an audit review,” Leaman said.
“If this info was digitized, it could be used to identify deficiencies and improve practices.”
On a broader scale, Max Teplitski, chief science officer for the Produce Marketing Association, said food safety professionals and produce associations need openness from the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to work with the industry on food safety issues.
