Monday, November 16, 2009 by Lee Mannering
Risk assessment key to food safety culture
Recently on the “Ask Dr. Bob” audio blog, PMA’s Chief Science Officer Dr. Bob Whitaker discussed risk assessment and risk management and how they fit into building an organization’s food safety culture. Dr. Whitaker noted that many in the produce industry are already risk managers (based on factors such as weather, market, returns, etc.) but too often risk assessment is skipped because some food safety plans may be based on someone else’s audit process. He adds that “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.”
Note: this was the first in a series of posts on risk assessment from Dr. Bob Whitaker. For future updates, you can visit his blog directly and sign up to get new additions via e-mail.