Food Safety Success Stories

We spend a lot of time fixing issues, learning, and preparing for the future.

I believe all of us have experienced stressful situations in our food safety careers.

I thought it would be refreshing to hear about some of the community's successes.
Maybe you were recognized for your efforts, or you developed an exciting new product, or had a fun company trip.

I would love to hear about some happiness you all have felt during your career.

A mid-week morale boost would be great.

In my experience, food safety can be a thankless job. Now's your chance to relive some positive notes from the industry!

I will start with my highlight from my current position.

An employee was retiring after working with this company for 20+ years.

They loved to talk about the glory days and all the experiences they had in the food industry.

I arrived the morning after their retirement party and found a small wooden box on my desk.

There was a short note thanking me for our talks over the past few years.

Inside the box was a beautiful knife they had used since the beginning of the company.

I was moved almost to the point of tears. It is extremely high quality, and much nicer than any I have ever owned.

I hope to continue the knifes legacy for another 20+ years throughout my own career.

This was a gesture I will never forget, and one of my fondest memories in this industry.

When I left my previous position for a short stint in cannabis (never again), I reached out to my previous VP for a , and he wrote a glorious recommendation and sent an email telling me what he saw in me as a person and employee

It's been a decade now, and I know I could reach out to him at any time.  It was one of the highlights of my life that i will carry in my heart always 

@Scampi, Wow what a great example. Shoutout to that VP for treating you how you deserve to be treated.

I'll keep that in mind if I'm asked to write a recommendation for someone.

He sounds like a nice guy, I wonder if he's hiring... :huh:  haha just kidding

I want to sare with you my experience from my first jod before 15 years. I had just got my degree and started working in a ready to eat company. my boss was a tall skary guy with a big voice but a much bigger hart. I stayed there for four years trying to do my best. I managed to get for the first time the ISO 22000 certifiation and even though I was too young he trusted me in many areas knowing that due to my inexperience I would probably do something wrong. I left the company for something better. He passed away before 5 years and now I continue to have frequent comunication with his son who is now the CEO. 

I will never forget mr Panagiotis. He was ont only a boss but it was a also teacher for me.

At my last plant (worked there for 8.5 years in bakery/RTE), I was a year and half in and got over the GFSI Certification hump.  It was a mid to large plant 250+ staff and there was 30+ years of FS/QA documents that I had to retool, rewrite, throw out, etc.  Got through the audit, we scored a 93 however took some level of detail to work through some of the programs in other departments.  The Sanitation Manager who had been in bakery manufacturing for decades left a gift bag on my desk the next day when I came in to work.  Inside were a few baked goods he made personally, a bottle of wine, and a card (see attached) that I still have to this day framed.  It reminds me of all the disastrous things that can happen, you can still come out on top and improve the process or situation.  The sentiment inside said: "You inherited a mess and still came out with the prize, GFSI Certification!"  It was a great gesture and it really solidified our relationship moving forward. I still call from time to time for advice and to see how retirement is going making cheesecakes.  

Little things in life can really keep you going!  

Edit, apologies for the upside photo! 

I met my partner through food who has morphed from a cowboy operations person to someone who actually "gets" food safety, quality and ethics now.