Tuesday, December 01, 2009 by Lee Mannering
Mapping the risk assessment process
Last week on the Ask Dr. Bob audio blog, PMA Chief Science Officer Dr. Bob Whitaker addressed how organizations in the produce industry might map out risk assessment and risk management as part of their food safety culture. Dr. Whitaker recommended mapping out the production process first and then drawing out each step in the operation from that point forward, including such factors as selecting the ground to grow on if you are a grower, or how products might be received at a facility, or how to handle products if you are a processor.
Dr. Whitaker noted that “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.”
He added that companies “have to own this process” and that they “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.”
Note: this was the second 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 updates via e-mail.