Development of a tool to independently review food safety culture maturity in food manufacturing: Food behaviour observance self-assessment (‘FBos-25’).

Introduction: Ideally, holistic determination of prevailing food safety culture characteristics which are consistent with safe food practices in the food manufacturing sector require analytical skills proficient in combining both quantitative and qualitative data, however, rationalising intangible food safety culture characteristics with compliance expectations is a challenging process which can be time-consuming, resource intensive and complex to initiate independent of external expertise.
Purpose: Develop a simple, industry-friendly self-assessment tool (‘FBos-25’) to review organisational food safety management aspects to provide an indication of operational culture-compliance maturity.

Methods: Consolidated longitudinal case study data (mixed-methods) defined by the dimensional indicators as proposed by the Global Food Safety Initiative’s position on food safety culture incorporating hand hygiene compliance - as a universal food safety indicator - were collected from food manufacturing and processing facilities (n=3) and subsequently utilised to develop twenty-five statements representative of practical vision and mission (n=5), people (n=5), consistency (n=5), adaptability (n=5) and hazard and risk awareness (n=5) characteristics in a trial for feasibility of tool use, and suitability of application.

Results: Responses to specific statements such as “Hand hygiene practices are monitored regularly” (suggestive of culture consistency), “Hand hygiene procedure was reviewed in the preceding 6 months” (suggestive of adaptability culture) and “Hand hygiene performance indicators are in place” (suggestive of vision and mission) with simple yes/no answers enabled calculation of maturity scores dimensionally and overall. The ‘FBos-25’ trials utilising case study data (i.e., document reviews, observations/audits, interviews and questionnaires) aligned with key findings, determining a culture maturity that was doubtful-reactive. This suggests that a focused self-assessment tool targeting hand hygiene indicators to determine culture maturity may be more effective than a broad, general food safety survey.

Significance: Requiring no specialist skills, and based on existing organisational knowledge, the ‘FBos-25’ tool can establish food safety culture maturity in food manufacturing environments both independently and instantly.