Panelists Michele Fontanot, Ph.D. (Professional Service Manager, 3M Latin America), Paola Lopez (Quality Assurance Manager, Sigma), and Lone Jespersen, Ph.D. (Cultivate, Switzerland) identified three key characteristics on the food safety culture in Latin America region: a culture of caring, empowerment, and authentic food safety culture as a competitive advantage.
A deep sense of "culture of caring" prevails in Latin America. This relationship-based culture, with its relatively indirect, high-context communication (Figure 1), signals the importance of trust-building at work. As one panelist described, building relationships and coordinating teamwork are like dancing. Cultivating food safety culture is to foster a sense of team, create innovative teamwork, nurture meaning and relevance about food safety in everyone, and consequently transform food safety culture to a natural way of life. Since people's learning styles differ, it is important to respect the differences and work on the similarities. As the webinar panelists noted, "A quality system must have elements that encourage a sense of belonging."