OCTOBER 20238IN MY OPINIONUnquestionably, food safety is a primary focus for every food manufacturer. Food safety professionals put a lot of effort into food safety processes and procedures, meeting mandatory regulations, exceeding food safety standards, and passing food safety audits.Food products are a sensitive category. We buy food out of primary need, out of comfort and satisfaction, and out of curiosity. Food affects our senses, but it can also affect our health. Consequently, the food industry must comply with quality requirements and maintain quality standards. To minimize all the costs and efforts associated with tracking and withdrawing a non-compliant product through the food chain and lost customer sales and brand trust among consumers, establishing a food safety culture is crucial.Food safety culture is prescribed in the current regu-lation, Codex Alimentarius, food safety standards (GFSI), and one among the many definitions is:"The foundation for the successful functioning of any food hygiene system is the establishment and maintenance of a positive food safety culture that recognizes the im-portance of human behaviour in ensuring safe and suitable food."Food safety culture includes shared values, beliefs, and norms that influence the organization's way of thinking and behaving towards food safety. A thriving food safety culture is one where each employee understands their specific responsibilities regarding food safety. It includes activi-ties such as the continuous implementation of employee education related to food safety and quality, checking process compliance with the requirements of food safety standards, implementation of internal factory inspections of production facilities and the environment, management of foreign bodies in production facilities, and risk analysis related to food safety such as food protection and food fraud. Organizational safety culture could also be defined as `how people in the company behave when no one is looking.'Achieving these goals requires effective quality manage-ment, which implies continuous improvement activities at every operational level and functional area of the organization. Quality management combines the commitment, discipline, and increas-ing effort of everyone involved in the production process and EXPAND YOUR FOOD SAFETY CULTUREBY TANJA DINIC, DIRECTOR OF INTERNAL AUDIT FOR FOOD SAFETY, FORTENOVA GRUPATanja Dinic
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