The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has published a new Guidance Note on Food Safety Culture, which aims to support food operations in meeting their legal requirements to establish and maintain an appropriate food safety culture in their business. The new resource will assist food businesses in embedding food safety into their everyday practices and will also provide a framework for inspectors to assess food safety culture.

The Guidance Note contains practical tools such as a self-assessment checklist and questionnaires to help businesses evaluate their own culture and prepare for inspections.

By increasing awareness and adopting safe food behaviors, an appropriate food safety culture can:

• Maintain high food safety and hygiene standards and regulatory compliance
• Aid in keeping consumers safe from foodborne illness
• Increase transparency and improve communication among all employees
• Help prevent problems that result from unsafe food.

FSAI’s Learning Portal also has a training module on food safety culture to assist food businesses that can be used in tandem with the Guidance Note.