Sophie Tongyu Wu Ph.D.

To improve the food safety culture of an organization, it is critical that a key focus be the frontline employees. A proven tool to improve frontline employee engagement in effective food safety behaviors is the concept of "nudging"—a regular cadence of small, easily controlled, and easily taken actions to make a change process more effective, manageable, and sustainable. This article will showcase real-life examples of nudging and share successful examples.

Panelists Michele Fontanot (Professional Service Manager, 3M Latin America), Paola Lopez (QA Manager, Sigma), and Lone Jespersen, Ph.D. (Cultivate, Switzerland), identified three prominent features around food safety culture in Latin America region: a culture of caring, empowerment, and authentic food safety culture being a competitive advantage. 

Panelists Christian Blyth (Pathogen Specialist, 3M Canada), Marie Tanner (Senior Vice President of Quality, Dairy Farmers of America), and Lone Jespersen, Ph.D. (Cultivate SA) discuss three features that are prominent in North America's food safety culture: diversity of thought, proactive risk-based approach, and high adaptability. 

The authors and collaborating food safety experts highlight several unique features of Asian culture that interplay with food safety management: evolving leadership toward modern styles, emerging risk awareness, and an immense hunger for learning

The authors and collaborating food safety experts have delineated several unique features in Australia around food safety and quality: intimate collaborations across sectors and functions, "walk the talk," and skills and capacity building.

The authors and collaborating food safety experts have identified four predominant features around food safety culture in European cultures. These features include mixed attitudes toward the adoption of new ideas as food safety management changes, active engagement in food safety and quality, consensual decision-making, and a prevailing dependence on internal drive (as opposed to regulatory dictation) in fostering food safety culture.

This Regional Culture article series will examine the differences and features that prevail and render each global region unique with regard to food safety culture. Ultimately, the goal is to foster understanding and enable better communicate and management of food safety culture.