When workforce capability receives limited attention, it raises broader questions about leadership commitment to protecting both employees and consumers. Building a strong food safety culture requires more than policies and audits; it requires sustained investment in the people responsible for providing safe food every day.
For a time, ByHeart Nutrition and Nara Organics both used Organic West milk dried by Dairy Farmers of America in their infant formula products (confirmed by Food Fix). Both brands have been implicated in botulism outbreaks that occurred within months of each other.
In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Fresca Foods’ Vice President of Operations, Miguel Ramirez, and former Fresca Foods FSQ Manager Madisen Hodgson, M.S. about cultivating a strong and effective food safety culture, including practical tips for measuring outcomes, driving continuous improvement, engaging frontline employees and leadership, and more.
Based on the findings, researchers recommended targeted food safety messaging for older adults that raises awareness of age-related susceptibility to foodborne illness and the potential severity of infection, and acknowledges the effects of health, financial, and environmental realities on food safety practices.
New ByHeart-commissioned research suggests that sulfite-reducing clostridia (SRC) enumeration, the “gold-standard” test for C. botulinum in powdered infant formula, which was used by Nara Organics prior to the ongoing outbreak, is insufficient. Experts who spoke to Food Safety Magazine agree C. botulinum should be considered as a foreseeable hazard requiring specific preventive controls.
Staying in compliance with food laws and avoiding food safety incidents requires more than ticking compliance boxes—it demands a strategic investment in people.
This article shares best practices for using existing organizational momentum to drive food safety culture improvementand keep SQF scores high. It also suggests ways to cast a wide net to gather ideas for continual improvement that will reduce risk and better protect public health.
Four European research and innovation projects—SecureFood, EFF-CoP, ACT4FOOD, and DEFENSEFOOD—will host a joint webinar on July 3, titled, "Advancing Food System Security: From Early Signals to Systemic Resilience.”