Julia Stewart:
Hello, this is PMA PR Director Julia Stewart, and welcome back to PMA’s audio blog, “Ask Dr. Bob.” PMA’s Chief Science and Technology Officer Dr. Bob Whitaker and Lorna Christie, PMA’s Executive Vice President and COO, are with us today to share some news on an exciting food safety event coming up in April.

Bob, Lorna, what is the CEO Food Safety Symposium and why is it different from other events?

Bob:
Thank you, Julia. We’re looking forward to our first Food Safety Symposium of 2010, it’s actually to be held April 6th in Orlando, Florida. First off, I should say thanks to CHEP Pallets for hosting it, and to N2N global for sponsoring it.

This special CEO series that we started just last year, is geared toward the high-level decision-makers in each company because, as I’ve said previously, in order to really have effective food safety programs you have to change your business culture. The persons ultimately responsible for a business’ culture – food safety or otherwise – are the top decision-makers, the CEOs or presidents. They also have the best view of the risk if there isn’t a good food safety program — consequences like the loss of brand equity or even loss of the entire company. This symposium is geared toward this C-level position, rather than the food safety scientists. It focuses on the business aspect of food safety.

Lorna:
That’s right, Bob. This symposium is different from other food safety conferences because it changes the dialogue around food safety. It takes it out of the quality assurance department and makes it the responsibility of everyone in the company — from the CEO to the guy who packs product on the trucks at the other end of the building. This symposium is unique because it doesn’t focus on the science or technical aspects of food safety; instead it focuses on how to change your business model.

Bob:
You know that is an important point, Lorna! We don’t talk about the science at all. And, the symposium format includes some very interactive, real-world breakout sessions where the participants can discuss some of the points we make during our presentations, and explore how some of these ideas might be incorporated into their own businesses.

We start off with a status check, having an honest conversation with attendees about their food safety programs, the types of elements such programs should have, and how basic business functions relate to food safety. Then we hear from a lawyer whose firm specializes in prosecuting food safety cases. He lays out the stark realities of food safety, pointing out that if you don’t have a thorough food safety program, he’s going to sue you – and win! He really drives home the consequences of not having a comprehensive program.

Lorna:
Then we have one of my favorite parts which we like to call the “oh shit moment”. In breakout sessions, attendees discuss what they heard that really gave them pause, and how it could relate to their company. This illustrates the unique difference in the format of this symposium from other events out there. It looks at the impact of failure that goes beyond business losses.

We also incorporate applied knowledge — we present a scenario and discuss what they would do. People get to think outside their traditional box and look at applying what we’ve talked about in a very different way. We’ve had great feedback from all our symposiums.

Bob:
Attendees at last summer’s Monterey event really appreciated the legal perspective – for example, they thought the insight we offered into how post-outbreak investigations and lawsuits expose weaknesses in food safety programs was particularly beneficial. They also recognized the benefit of having fellow colleagues in the room, networking, and sharing ideas with produce and food safety executives… and understanding some of the similarities of this issue throughout the produce industry.

Lorna:
And, attendees at our Austin symposium last year especially regarded the outlook on what to do if you have a food safety event and the news media come knocking on your door. In Rochester last fall, attendees noted the value of getting a better understanding of how to prepare for a food safety issue, beyond just your protocol for recalling product. In all cases, participants touted the benefit of looking at real world situations and examples of how to handle them in our business

Julia:
Thank you, Bob and Lorna. We look forward to this unique event and to hearing back from our listeners who attend it.

For more information about the Symposium series or to register, go to www.pmafoodsafety.com. Thanks for joining us, everyone…Until next time, goodbye.

Julia Stewart:
Hello, this is PMA PR Director Julia Stewart, and welcome back to PMA’s audio blog, “Ask Dr. Bob” with PMA’s Chief Science and Technology Officer Dr. Bob Whitaker. Bob, in early February you attended a Global Food Safety Conference hosted by the Consumer Goods Forum that was held Washington, D.C. The Consumer Goods Forum sponsors something called the Global Food Safety Initiative. Would you explain to our listeners what GFSI is, and what they’re doing?

Bob:
Thanks, Julia. The Global Food Safety Initiative or GFSI was formed nearly 10 years ago by a group of retailers in Europe, to try to bring some cohesiveness to the proliferation of food safety audits. GFSI is a global benchmarking organization that benchmarks different food safety standards or schemes, against GFSI defined set of standards. The goal is to try to bring some equivalency to all the different food safety schemes and audits out there, on a global basis. In effect, GFSI believes that by using a benchmarking approach, the various food safety standards can be equilibrated and brought to a common level.

Here’s how it works: Their technical group goes through and analyzes each scheme, then reports back on its strengths and weaknesses. If the scheme meets the requirements of their benchmarking guidance, GFSI can then approve or “recognize” the scheme. Alternatively, if they find the scheme to be deficient, or they need further clarification, they can ask the owner of the standard to go back and revise it and re-submit it for future evaluation. The GFSI credo is ‘Once Audited, Accepted Everywhere.’

Julia:
Bob, you keep using this word ‘scheme’. What does that mean in this particular context?

Bob:
Good point, Julia. In the world of global benchmarking, ‘scheme’ is used to denote an entire food safety program. That is, the technical pieces around risk assessment and management, foundation programs like standard operating procedures, sanitation, good manufacturing practices, training, traceability and also the auditing operations. By auditing, I mean the requirements for auditing the scheme; how the auditor will perform the audit, the requirements for auditing, auditor training, the dispute resolution process, and development of corrective actions.

SQF 1000 (or Safe Quality Food) and BRC (the British Retail Consortium) are two schemes that have already been recognized by GFSI and are operational in North America. Just last week, GFSI announced that Primuslabs has also successfully achieved recognition.

Julia:
So, what happened at this most recent meeting, and why is it significant?

Bob:
The most recent meeting in Washington is significant because in North America, we are now broadening our view of standards and what’s going on elsewhere in the world in food safety. GFSI coming to the U.S. for this meeting emphasizes this. The meeting had just shy of 700 participants from all sectors of the food industry — a clear indication of the growing importance of GFSI’s work.

Also, the discussion at this meeting indicates GFSI is working to address some of the challenges which have been brought up in the past about their approach. The biggest issue revolves around whether they can really reduce the cost of food safety auditing and be relevant to small growers – for example, benchmarked audits so far have been more expensive than other audits. GFSI is recognizing they need to have a system that is accessible to small suppliers as well as large ones. If the higher costs of benchmarked standards exclude smaller suppliers, it may prove to be a major stumbling block for retailers dealing with local growers and seasonal sources.

Another issue that was discussed at the Washington, DC meeting was that of auditor competency and consistency. No matter what your scheme is, it all comes down to the person who visits your facility and performs the audit. GFSI is committed to working with their approved scheme owners to achieve a higher level of consistency in their auditors’ performance. In the end, in order for buying groups to have confidence that an audit truly represents the food safety performance of their supplier, they must believe that the auditor is conducting audits in an efficient and comprehensive fashion.

Julia:
At this point, Bob, why should our listeners care about this?

Bob:
Having formal boundaries between scheme-holders, accreditation bodies and certification bodies is something that hasn’t always been the case in the U.S. produce industry. However, this global benchmarking concept is gaining momentum, and a number of companies across the food supply chain are already embracing the concept. Companies like Kroger, WalMart, US Foodservice, McDonald’s and a number of others have said they want their suppliers to adopt a globally benchmarked food safety scheme. Retailers recognize they’re sourcing product globally, and suppliers are increasingly facing a multitude of different audit schemes. Simplifying the audit process worldwide will be beneficial to them.

It’s also clear that the Food and Drug Administration is looking at, and is willing to work with, folks like GFSI to improve the performance and safety of the food industry. We need to learn about this and be involved with it, because it is a trend we see emerging for our industry.

Julia:Thank you, Bob, for that interesting introduction to global benchmarking. We’ll look forward to future updates on the topic. Thanks to our listeners, and please join us next time!

Julia Stewart:
Hello, this is PMA PR Director Julia Stewart, and welcome back to PMA’s audio blog, “Ask Dr. Bob.” PMA’s Chief Science Officer Dr. Bob Whitaker is with me today to continue discussing risk assessment and risk management.

Bob, in several of your posts on food safety you have talked about the need for continuous improvement. What exactly does that mean and how can companies incorporate it into their risk assessment and management process?

Bob Whitaker:
Julia, Risk assessment and management is never really finished. If you add a new ranch, change harvesters, re-organize your cooler, add a new process line, contract a new transportation company, change the traffic flow in the distribution center, or change display cases in your store, then you need to re-examine your risk management program — to take a fresh look and be sure it is still accurate. Continuous improvement should be a key attribute of that process, and of any good food safety program.

Absent true kill steps, food safety will always be a process of risk assessment and management – so food safety managers are challenged then to be innovative thinkers and search out new ideas and technologies to help manage those risks. There are exciting new technologies out there poised to have an impact on food safety performance. But first we have to test these new technologies, verify they work, and understand how they can impact food safety. We also have to look internally, to strategize, plan, train and implement, then do it again. These are concepts you use every day in your sales groups and production teams, why not food safety?

Continuous improvement means never being satisfied. If you stand still on food safety, you’ll most assuredly get run over. This is not a static issue. I always think of it as a “ripple effect”. A little drop of information obtained at a conference, off the internet, or at an agricultural extension service can be shaped, molded and implemented in your business, and have a tidal wave impact on the food safety performance of your company.

The information is not simply going to find you, you need to search it out. You can do that by getting involved with your trade associations, by visiting Web sites like PMA.com to get food safety updates, by obtaining links to other useful sites, and by supporting the research efforts of the Center for Produce Safety or a local university actively engaged in food safety research.

Always remember, as your business changes, so does your food safety risk profile; you are constantly in the mode of updating and re-evaluating. A continual process of risk assessment and risk management is a chance for your employees to learn, and a chance for your company to improve your food safety performance. This mind set of continuous improvement can and will also transfer to other aspects of your business activities, and have a positive impact on your business culture.

Julia:
Thank you, Bob. PMA is committed to continuously improving the food safety culture of our industry, and our members can take advantage of the wealth of information we have available on food safety.
Thanks very much to our listeners, please join us again next time!

Julia Stewart:
Hello, this is Julia Stewart, PMA PR Director, here with PMA Chief Science Officer Dr. Bob Whitaker. Welcome back to PMA’s audio blog, “Ask Dr. Bob.” Today we’re continuing our series on risk assessment and risk management.

Bob, in several previous posts you have alluded to the value of recordkeeping, as well as training. What exactly do our listeners need to know about both these areas as they relate to risk assessment and risk management plans?

Bob Whitaker:
Well Julia, companies need to have a plan to store and catalog their food safety data, because this data can be vital to the success or failure of the company’s food safety program. Remember, in the event of a food safety incident involving your products, your food safety data will be your best means of demonstrating to regulators your adherence to your written food safety program, and it should be accessible and clear. Should the food safety event move to a legal setting, your data can be subpoenaed so you want it to be complete, accurate, and evaluated properly.

So what are some of the things to keep in mind as you consider data storage? First, make sure your data is collected and stored properly and securely. Put checks and balances in place to be sure the integrity of the data is maintained. Only your food safety professionals should be authorized to collect, verify and store food safety data. It’s wise to have written policies in place describing how to handle the data, who should read and verify if the data are complete and properly reviewed, and where the data are to be stored.

It is worth considering both short-term and long-term storage options for food safety data. Most food safety standards call for keeping data at least 2-3 years. You may also want to consider storing data in multiple locations to avoid losing data should a disaster compromise your facility.

Another of the key tools you have in implementing your risk-based food safety program is training. Training is an important aspect of any food safety program and an activity that will permeate any company that is truly integrating food safety into its culture. I have always found that employees generally want to do the right thing — they just need to be trained properly. Employees learn best when the training is made personal. Don’t just train them to do something, also explain why the task is important and why how it is done is important. If you are training on the importance of hand washing, explain why it is important: Talk about the bacteria that could be on your hands, and how these can make people sick. Talk about how those most likely to get sick, the old and the young, and relate that to the employee’s favorite grandparent or younger sister. It will have more impact and serve as a constant reminder to them.

Another important piece of training is to then empower employees to do their jobs once they are trained. Setting goals and communicating responsibilities related to food safety – and then following up to ensure the goals and responsibilities are being met – helps with empowerment. Remember, your company is only as food safe as your weakest link. You want that minimum wage employee working on the third shift, when you’re home in bed, to be as well trained as possible.

Julia:
Thank you, Bob. Training is such an important part of so many processes. PMA offers great food safety and other training resources and platforms to help our members and you can find more information on these at pma.com.

To our listeners, thank for joining us! When we come back next time, we’ll have the last post in our series on risk assessment and risk management, on the importance of continuous improvement.

Until then, goodbye for now.

Julia Stewart:
Hello, this is PMA PR Director Julia Stewart, and welcome back to PMA’s audio blog, “Ask Dr. Bob.” PMA’s Chief Science Officer Dr. Bob Whitaker is with me today to continue discussing the importance of measuring your food safety program. We’ve been talking about verification as part of a series of posts about risk assessment and risk management.

Bob, in your previous post you discussed some of the tools we can use to verify food safety programs, but are there others?

Bob Whitaker:
Yeah, Julia. Another tool we can use to measure adherence to our food safety programs, and assess our risk management strategies, are food safety audits. As I’ve previously discussed, sometimes the food safety discussion in our industry is over-shadowed or somehow equated with discussions on what audits are best and how many we have to do. Remember, audits are only a tool; a snap shot in time.

Realistically, audits are like taking an exam when you know when the test will be scheduled, have all the questions already in hand, and you know what the answers need to be. But leaving aside the on-going discussions on food safety audits, in the context of verifying our food safety programs, food safety audits are a mechanism to demonstrate to yourself, your senior management, and your customers that you are following your food safety program – and that you can verify it through your audit that day. At their best, food safety audits are excellent training opportunities for employees, a chance to have an independent set of eyes critique your program, and a time when you can step back from all the other responsibilities and critically look at your food safety program and how it is being implemented. So an audit can be an important learning experience.

Just as we discussed in the last post about needing a plan of action for responding to microbial testing results, it is important to have a plan of action for audits. It is critical that once audits are performed, you assemble your food safety team and work together to develop corrective actions to address deficiencies uncovered during the audit. This is an important step in completing the audit; demonstrating to your team, senior management, customers, and possibly regulators that you have acted responsibly to address any food safety issues that might arise and were detected in your audits.

Remember an audit is not complete until the corrective actions have been developed and implemented. Preparing corrective actions is also an excellent training opportunity for your team. And be sure to document in writing all your corrective actions.

Julia:
Thank you, Bob. With all the talk about audit proliferation and audit fatigue, this helps put the usefulness and role of audits into perspective. Thanks very much to our listeners, please join us again next time!

Julia Stewart:
Hello, this is PMA PR Director Julia Stewart, and welcome back to PMA’s audio blog, “Ask Dr. Bob.” PMA’s Chief Science Officer Dr. Bob Whitaker is with me today to continue discussing the steps of risk assessment and risk management.

Bob, in your previous post you mentioned the importance of being able to measure your risk management program. Can you give us some more details about this?

Bob Whitaker:
Sure Julia, it is important that you make your risk management program measurable to the extent possible. Simply put, you can’t manage what you can’t measure. For example, if you identify irrigation water sourced from a well on a farm as a risk factor should it become contaminated, then define your risk management practice in measurable terms. That means, for example, that you can have a check list that calls for weekly physical inspection of the well head, and monthly microbial testing for generic E. coli. These are measurable activities, they generate data, and that data can be used to verify you are following your risk assessment and management plan. More importantly, these data may also help you identify improvements you could make in your risk management program to help improve your food safety performance.

However, remember you cannot test your way to safety. You need to be realistic about the uses and value for testing in your operations and how it helps you manage risks. Understand that testing is only a tool. Without the proper risk management practices in place, testing is meaningless. We are faced with the need to test water, soil amendments, process environments, equipment surfaces, and even seeds. You need to look at these in relationship to your risk assessment, and determine whether testing these factors will help you manage the risk better, or if the tests will help verify the effectiveness of a process.

And, just as important as having a way to measure, is also to have a plan for responding to the results. Know what a positive test result means and how you will handle it before you get that positive result. Decision trees are great tools in situations like that. Also know who will interpret the data, and who will make the decision to ship or destroy products, to harvest or to walk by a field. These decisions can be painful because they can have bottom-line impact, so be prepared for that beforehand.

Julia:
Thank you, Bob. As always you have tough but constructive information for us. We’ll look forward to hearing more about the role of verification in risk assessment and management in the next post.

To our listeners, thanks very much for joining us today!

If you haven’t already signed up to receive Ask Dr. Bob posts by email, we invite you to do so today – just type your email address into the “subscribe” field you’ll find on the home page of the blog.

We’ll see you next time!

Julia Stewart:
Hello, this is Julia Stewart, PMA PR Director, here with PMA Chief Science Officer Dr. Bob Whitaker. Welcome back to PMA’s audio blog, “Ask Dr. Bob”.

Bob, we’ve been talking about the importance of risk assessment to food safety, and how to get started. What are some of the most important steps we should be considering as we go through this process?

Bob Whitaker:
Julia, as we have already discussed, we’re already risk assessors and managers, so we’re well positioned to use the most powerful tool we have in our toolbox to build food safety programs.  I want to briefly outline some key general principles you need to bear in mind as you put that tool to work.

We previously discussed the importance of mapping the process for your operation. This is a key step in any risk assessment. A company must draw out each step in the operation and then evaluate where you might have a food safety risk.  

While each operation must assign a person responsible for leading that mapping and risk assessment process, it is important to note that this must be a participatory process. Everyone must participate in the process, so that they can ultimately take responsibility for the company’s food safety performance.   The best way to achieve this is by designating a food safety team, spanning from field-level employees to senior managers. That way, you can ensure meaningful input in the planning process, and get corporate-wide buy-in or ownership when the plan is complete.  Your food safety plan is only going to be effective if each employee owns it, if it is specific to your business, and your employees understand it in that context.

Next, use your internal experts. The president of the company or his or her designated food safety professional can’t sit at a desk and create a complete risk assessment and management program alone.  Involve your company “experts”. Every operation has people who are experts in their area, from growing to harvesting and cooling, to processing. They live in these operations daily and can help define the mapping process more accurately.  More importantly, they can help you develop the risk management practices that you will need. 

If your risk assessment and management planning process is iterative, as it should be to ensure your plan stays current and effective, you will generally find that your group of experts can be your most valuable resource in suggesting and implementing new management practices to mitigate the risks you identify.  Even better, because they had a role in developing those practices, your experts will turn into your most vehement enforcers of your management practices every day.

You also must be sure that you make your risk management program measurable to the extent possible.  Simply put, you can’t manage what you can’t measure.  You must build measurable activities into your plan. We will talk about this in more detail in a future post.

Lastly, risk assessment and management is never really done. You must re-assess and update your plans regularly, striving for continuous improvement. We’ll talk about this principle in another post.

Julia:
Thank you, Bob. These core principles make basic sense, I look forward to talking with you more about some of them in future posts. In the meantime, to our listeners, thanks for joining us. Please visit the Ask Dr. Bob audio blog again soon, and remember you can also sign up on the blog’s front page to receive future posts by email. If you are finding this valuable, please share it with your colleagues.

See you next time!

Julia Stewart:
Hi, this is Julia Stewart, PMA PR Director and welcome back to PMA’s audio blog, “Ask Dr. Bob.” PMA’s Chief Science Officer Dr. Bob Whitaker is with me today to continue discussing risk assessment and risk management.

Bob, in your last post you outlined the importance of risk assessment and management, and you described how mapping the process sets the base for a food safety program. Can you give us more detail on the different types of risk we might have to plan for?

Bob Whitaker:
Julia, as I’ve said before, risk assessment and risk management is our most powerful weapon in our efforts to improve our industry food safety performance. In our last post I talked about how important it is for each operator to thoroughly map and define their production practices, to help identify the different types of risk they face and will need to manage. What do I specifically mean by that? We grow our crops in nature. They can potentially be exposed to a number of biological, chemical or physical contaminants that could cause illness in humans.

Crops are subject to weather, animals, birds, insects and human intrusion. Our production areas aren’t hermetically sealed buildings. We may farm next to dairy and poultry operations, grazing beef cattle, industrial manufacturing, and more recently populated neighborhoods. Fruits and vegetables grow in soils that can harbor vibrant microbial populations. We irrigate our crops with water sourced from wells and reservoirs that are fairly protected, but also canals and rivers where the water often travels hundreds of miles and can be subject to a wide variety of contaminating factors along the route.

Many commodities are handled numerous times by humans during harvest, sorting, and packing. We cool and sometimes process products, and these operations further subject the products to contamination risks. We ship products across the country, hold them at distribution centers and then move them to consumers through restaurant kitchens or retail shelves. Each stop along the way presents risks for contamination that must be managed to achieve our supply chain’s common goal of public safety.

When we look at the complex supply chain that is employed in produce and the potential for contamination events, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. However, these potential risk events are really opportunities for operators to use their best practices to manage these risks. An effective risk mapping and assessment process helps identify the points of potential risk, but it doesn’t stop there. That process will also help each company determine how likely a contamination event is to occur, so that the company can then assign a priority to addressing that risk, and determining what tool or management process might be employed to do so.

Julia:
Thank you, Bob. Once again you’ve outlined some interesting information and challenged us to really analyze this entire process and all the types of risk that we might face. We look forward to hearing more from you on this whole issue of risk assessment and management.

Until next time, to our listeners, thanks for joining us!

Julia Stewart:
Hello, this is PMA PR Director Julia Stewart, and welcome back to PMA’s audio blog, “Ask Dr. Bob.” PMA’s Chief Science Officer Dr. Bob Whitaker is with me today to discuss risk assessment and risk management, and how they fit into building a food safety culture in your business.

Bob, in our previous post you talked about why having a company- and operation-specific risk assessment is an important part of a food safety program. So just how exactly do companies get started with their risk assessment?

Bob Whitaker:
Julia, a key step for any risk assessment and management program is to map out your production process. Draw out each step in your operation from when you select the ground to grow on if you are a grower, or how you might receive products at a facility, or how to handle products if you are a processor. Then you simply evaluate where there might be potential food safety problems using that production map.

Risk assessment is one of the factors that make food safety personal. Every company has a different risk profile, because every company does things their own way — different growers, varieties, water sources, harvest practices, cooling equipment, or process lines. All these different factors result in different risk profile – and the programs to manage those risks have to be built to manage those unique risks. I get frustrated when somebody tells me they have a food safety program, and then they show me a dusty five-year-old food safety manual given to them by a third party vendor or customer. If you have that kind of program, you don’t have a comprehensive food safety program.

So then if you have a good risk assessment, you can then use the variety of tools available to build management practices and verification methods. If you understand your production flow, then you can figure out where you need to have management practices in place to mitigate risks. Once you have a complete understanding and description of what you do in the production of your products, then you can take the second step and determine where in that process biological, chemical or physical contamination might occur.

And by the way, you have to own this process. Companies must take responsibility for performing their own risk assessments and implementing risk management programs. You know your business best. To be sure, you can and sometimes should use outside experts to help guide you, but you need to take responsibility for the plan.

Julia:
And knowing what’s at stake for a company if it has a food safety problem, if it was my company I would sure want to be driving the risk assessment and management process. I’ve heard enough attorneys talk about how many different ways they can sue food manufacturers who haven’t properly safeguarded their products. Thank you, Bob.

When Bob and I come back next time we’re going to talk about the different types of risk you might have to consider as you go through your own risk assessment and risk management process. So thank you for listening, and please join us again for next time!

Julia Stewart:
Hi, this is PMA PR Director Julia Stewart, and welcome back to PMA’s audio blog, “Ask Dr. Bob.” PMA’s Chief Science Officer Dr. Bob Whitaker is with me today and we are going to discuss risk assessment and risk management, and how they fit into building a food safety culture in your business.

Before we get started, I want to let our listeners know about a new feature on Ask Dr. Bob. You can now sign up on the blog’s front page to receive all future posts by email. So if you give us your email, we’ll keep it safe, and send you a note every time there’s a new post.

OK. Bob, you’ve been discussing in several forums the need for a new thought process to help protect individual businesses from the threat of a devastating food safety incident. How does risk assessment fit into a food safety program?

Bob Whitaker:
Well, Julia, whether we realize it or not, we’re all familiar with the concepts of risk assessment and risk management, because each one of us manages risks in the conduct of our everyday lives. For example, when we cross the street into traffic, we face risks. But we manage these risks by checking for traffic, watching where we step, and looking ahead to see what’s on the other side of the street. Mostly, we do this without thinking, but sometimes we do it in a more formal sense. For instance, we accept there are risks with driving a car and we often lay out a plan to manage those risks, like taking driving lessons, or purchasing a safer type of car, etc.

In the produce business, we also are very familiar with risk assessment and risk management. Growers pick and choose what crops to plant and when, based on their risk assessment of the market, likely weather, and their own expertise. Shippers invest and market products based on their assessment of the market for those products, and their potential return to the ranch or farm. At each step in the supply chain, we identify and manage risks every day.

Since we’re already risk managers, we’re well positioned to use the most powerful tool we have in our toolbox to build our food safety programs. But too often in our industry, we skip the risk assessment. We might do so because we think we have a food safety plan but in actuality we’re following somebody’s audit process. The problem is, that “one size fits all” approach doesn’t consider how you run and manage your specific operation. If you leave the risk assessment and management to someone else, you are not using the most important tool you have to effectively manage the safety of your particular products. Your food safety plan is only going to be effective if you own it, if it is specific to your business, and if your employees understand it in that context.

Julia:
So in order to properly manage the particular food safety risks that each company faces, each company has to do its own risk assessment and then put in place its own risk management process – they can’t just complete somebody else’s audit and assume they’ve covered all the risks their particular operation may face. Is that right?

Dr. Bob:
That’s right. And next time we get together, I’ll talk about how to get the risk assessment process started – it isn’t as scary as it may seem.

Julia:

Thank you, Bob. We’ll look forward to hearing the details on this subject in future posts, so that we can all do a better protect our industry and our consumers!

Thanks very much, and please join us again next time!