Unveiled on March 26 at the Annual GFSI Conference in Vancouver, Canada, the Consumer Goods Forum’s Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) has published the second edition of its position paper on food safety culture.

A Culture of Food Safety, Version 2.0 refines the original food safety culture framework set forth in the first edition published in 2018, incorporating the latest academic research and stakeholder feedback. It clarifies GFSI’s role as a benchmarking entity that defines the core dimensions—or the “what”—of food safety, while leaving decisions about the specific tools and implementation methods—or the “how”—to industry professionals and individual businesses.

Overall, the second edition seeks to bridge the gap between food safety culture in theory and in practice by equipping the global food industry with a multidimensional framework that can be used to transform cultural intention into consistent, measurable food safety performance.

A Model for Measurable, Continuous Improvement

In the second edition, GFSI recognizes that food safety culture is not a “soft” concept, but a critical determinant of food safety outcomes. Drawing on more than 180 evidence sources, the second edition proposes an amended five-dimensional model of food safety culture, organized into two tiers:

• Organizational Culture Foundations, including: 1) Company Values, Vision, and Mission; and 2) People: Commitment, Empowerment, and Accountability
• Manifested Cultural Essentials for Food Safety, including: 1) Hazard and Risk Awareness, 2) Consistency for Food Safety, and 3) Adaptability, Change, and Continuous Improvement.

The revised model reinforces GFSI’s central premise: food safety culture is not merely the product of leadership or training, but an integrated framework of shared values, behaviors, risk awareness, and organizational learning. To be effective, culture must be measurable, actionable, and continuously improved.

An Integrated, Systems–Culture Perspective

Based on the literature, the position paper also highlights the interplay between formal systems like Hazards Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) and informal cultural elements like leadership, staff empowerment, and behavioral consistency.

Calling on food safety stakeholders to adopt an integrated, systems–culture perspective rather than evaluating food safety culture in isolation, the position paper offers a shared vocabulary and structured framework. It defines the dimensions and critical components of organizational culture through a food safety lens, and supports the integration of culture into standards, training programs, and assurance mechanisms.