Hello IFSQN,
(this is a throw-away account)
First I wanted to preface this post with a little background information on myself to help frame the position I have found myself in. I am a young female (age 23) and about 7 months ago I had been promoted to "Food Safety Coordinator '' here at a Confectionary Food Manufacturing Facility (with a focus mainly in chocolate) with an employee count of a little over 100 between 2 separate buildings. How I landed in this position was the Food Safety Coordinator at the time was looking to retire fast, and since I had gone to university for Biology and Chemistry as well as fostered a good reputation for myself here I became a prime candidate. I ended up accepting the position after 2 people had already fallen through. I came into this position very head strong and immediately started training and studying in everything pertaining to food safety. I received formal HACCP, PCQI, Food Defense, FSVP, FDA Labeling, and BRC Internal Auditor training and have obtained many certifications. During my free time at home I would read over the CFR, BRC Standard, and just about any other reading material I could find.
Immediately, while in training, I began to notice a plethora of vulnerabilities and weaknesses within our Food Safety Program, even within its very foundation (like the complete lack of risk assessments). None of the decisions here are made with food safety in mind, I am not even included in the meetings discussing said decisions despite being the only person in food safety here at our company. It also does not help that senior management does not actively partake in food safety since "that is my job". However, every time I would bring up these vulnerabilities I saw I was always met with the same responses such as, "it is not a big deal", "common sense says", "they will never look at that", "they have never said anything before", "that is not necessary", then my least favorites, "I am willing to take those risks", "that will never happen to us", and "other companies…". Even the previous Food Safety Coordinator whom I was training under seemed to have this mindset (he was the one who created our Food Safety Program).
After a short 3 months the previous Food Safety Coordinator retired and I inherited the system along with all of its responsibilities. Everyday I feared all the things that were going on that I was not made aware of. It had gotten to the point where I felt 70% of my job was spent arguing for, what seemed to me, basic food safety compliance. The other 30% was spent trying to pick up the messes people were leaving behind from not following or caring about processes/procedures/standards/legal requirements (even things such as simple documentation). They do what they want but are not willing to do what is required to do what they want. My hands have been tied because I do not have the authority to make the final decisions within food safety and everything I say and propose gets shot down. After consistently being put down I began to feel as if maybe I were the problem since I was the only one who thought and cared about these things, so I stopped being as vocal about the issues I was seeing and just "did as I was told". Because I am a person who highly values my integrity, doing this started keeping me awake at night, but I also knew that if I continued things as I was, everything else that was deemed to be my responsibility would start getting neglected as well. Some of these responsibilities include, creating/changing specification sheets, labels, nutritional facts, recipe sheets, work instructions, CAPA reports, reviewing and monitoring suppliers, prerequisite programs (such as doing ATP swabbing), customer complaints, GMP inspections, internal auditing of the system, and the list goes on.
Fast forward to the nightmare that was our unannounced BRC Audit that just happened in the beginning of this month. Everything bad that could have happened during this audit happened and all of the odds were stacked against me. First off this was my first audit which is very daunting in itself let alone it being unannounced. Also, I am still relatively new to Food Safety and I was still (and still am) getting familiarized with the system I inherited. Before the previous Food Safety Coordinator retired we made an agreement that he would still be present during this audit. However, that morning he had left for a different state to attend his granddaughter's graduation. Not only that but there was a recent death within the company's family (the family makes up the vast majority of senior management) and the calling hours as well as the funeral were scheduled on the same days of the audit, I had no support... I was alone in this. Then the Audit started, every single one of those vulnerabilities and weaknesses I previously mentioned the auditor found. She was very thorough, ruthless, but fair. She was really concerned about our food safety culture and was not impressed with management, but she was extremely impressed with me. She even went as far as to say she had never met someone pick up food safety as quickly as I have. In the end I was able to produce a good score on our audit, but she made it clear that it was only because she believed in my ability to fix things.
As time goes on and as meetings and discussions happen, the more I fear change is beyond my control. I once again brought up the vulnerabilities within our system, and that we are obligated to continuously improve our Food Safety Program. I stated that my job should be focused more on making sure our system is alive and well, and be aware of how it is actually being implemented. I specified that I need a team of people to help maintain the health of the system, and continued by stating that the system is not sustainable all on my own. That it will inevitably continue to weaken due to neglect. I have repeatedly laid out that if given the time, resources, and ultimately the support I need I have the capability to make great changes and growth within our company’s Food Safety Program. I questioned how we expect to continuously grow/improve in food safety under our current circumstances. I tried informing them that food safety is ultimately here to protect the company and our consumers/customers, and that these vulnerabilities have the potential to harm either or. That we cannot have the mindset that nothing bad will ever happen to us. Even though I was blunt and straightforward in explaining that I need more support and the trust of senior management, they continue to believe there are no real issues. They want to believe the problem lies within the auditor since the previous auditor did not find the same issues/vulnerabilities. I have begun to regret producing a good score on our unannounced audit because I believe my company thinks they are out of the range of repercussions.
Have I exhausted my resources, am I just beating a dead horse? What do I do now?
Edited by F00d S@f3ty, 25 May 2023 - 05:46 PM.
