3 replies to this topic

[gcse-fhp]

You must:

- Employ Food Safety and HACCP Strategists instead of Food Safety and HACCP “Coordinators”;

- Use food safety assessment standards as guidelines and go much further instead of using these standards as the rule and going no further;

- Adopt a methodic approach to ensuring product safety instead of a panic approach to preparing for audits;

- Maintain an unyielding determination to continuously strengthen the food safety measures in spite of passed audits instead of resting with a yielded satisfaction after passing audits;

- Avoid a narrow-minded focus on science and technology in devising product safety solutions;

- Expand the scope of your consumer protection focus to addressing the often ignored spoilers of success and consistency;

- Build your consumer protection system with the understanding that regulations help to protect your consumers from the perspective of an impersonal political obligation but you must work to protect the needs and interests of your customers and consumers at a more personal level.

Please feel free to comment or contact me if you have any questions.

Regards,
gcse-fhp

Edited by gcse-fhp, 31 March 2012 - 04:02 PM.

[onsolution]

- Avoid a narrow-minded focus on science and technology in devising product safety solutions;

You make many great points. To me they are common sense, but then common sense is rarely common.

I wouldn't mind more input on the focus on science and technology. There may be a strong reliance on technology in the production phase, but my experience has been that by the time it reaches the end of the supply chain there appears to be the exact opposite.

That is, there appears to be a big focus on staff training and awareness with little concept on how to use technology to assist. I suspect that this is largely out of ignorance because a restaurant owner tends not to be a microbiologist, but does know that washing hands is important.

I also had a large catering company actually argue that they would rather have all their staff aware of the issues by manually recording the temperature than to be automatically monitoring the temperature.

So we have sectors that have swung too far one way while other parts have swung (or stayed) too far the other?

Looking forward to other people's thoughts.

Cheers,
Shane

[gcse-fhp]

Hi onsolution,

Thanks for your input. What you said about the extreme positions is so true. I will further elaborate on the focus on science and technology when I find a bit more time. In the mean time, I completely agree with the sentiment that ensuring food safety needs to involve the use of science, technology and common sense.

Regards,
gcse-fhp

Edited by gcse-fhp, 11 April 2012 - 02:51 AM.

[gcse-fhp]

As promised, here is a bit more thought on the proper use of science and technology:

It is a well known fact that science and technology are very helpful in many respects. This has caused some scientific and technological solution providers and users to think that the use of technology is the only and the entire solution to product safety and quality assurance. Thus, common sense and all moral obligations are abandoned.

At the other extreme, those who are opposed to technology seem to think that technology hinders common sense. This too is fallacy.

Neither the blind reliance on technology nor the callous abandon of it is helpful. Yes, technology may help us detect and control many parameters in assuring food safety but the humans involved in using these technological tools have to be properly motivated to use them properly and consistently.

A sense of moral obligation to the consumers of the resulting products also needs to play a part in the proper use of these technological tools. Where this fact is ignored in any adopted strategy for ensuring the safety of consumers, the efforts are bound to fail.

Although there are some dubious food processing operators who may use technology with criminal intentions, many operators want to do what is right. These operators and their employees need to be properly informed and motivated to consistently do the right things from the moral and ethical perspectives. A tunnel-vision devotion to technology as the panacea for all food safety ailments often ignores this fact.

The wanton abandon of technology, on the other hand, places unnecessary burden on those who could be helped and motivated to do the right thing. The motivation to do what is right often evaporates quickly under the share stress of having to do too much. Without engaging the use of helpful technology, you can almost guarantee a stressful progression with the maintenance of product safety and quality management systems.

What is required is the intelligent use of technology with common sense while maintaining a proper sense of moral obligation to workers and consumers.

Edited by gcse-fhp, 14 April 2012 - 06:29 PM.