If It’s Not Safe, It’s Not Food
Biggest Food Safety Dangers in Retail Delis
The FDA recently released its report on foodborne illness risk factors in retail food store deli departments. The study is part of an initiative that examines when foodborne illness risk factors, such as employees practicing poor personal hygiene, and food safety practices, like improper handwashing, occur; and their relationship to food safety management systems (FSMS) and certified food protection managers (CFPM). Findings were based on data gleaned from nearly 400 grocery delis between 2015 and 2016.
The report found delis with well-developed FSMS were more likely to properly control foodborne illness risk factors than delis with less developed FSMS. Also, delis with a CFPM have better developed FSMS than delis that do not have a CFPM present or employed.
The most common food safety behaviors needing better control included employees practicing proper handwashing, holding foods at proper refrigerated temperatures and properly cooling foods.
On the other hand, the study found that deli departments had the best control over ensuring no bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat foods and cooking raw animal foods to the required temperatures.
“Food safety compliance is generally expected by customers,” says Caroline Easterbrook, Amazon’s head of food safety for Europe, Middle East and Africa. “You don’t get bonus points for not harming somebody.”
As Sara Mortimore, VP, global food safety at Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart Inc., points out, education is an investment worth making to ensure a committed workforce. “We’ve done a whole bunch of things this year, like augmented-reality headsets for training and a ton of messaging, like posters,” observes Mortimore. “We also used a lot of videos that are very short, very immediate, teaching people how to do something, why we do it, making it very relevant to people. We recognize that food safety culture is incredibly important.”
Walmart is also trying to keep compliance simple. For instance, its Bring Your Own Device Program enables some of its operative associates to use their own devices to analyze compliance data, with no additional high-tech, labor-intensive instrumentation needed.
Mortimore also stresses keeping the lines of communication open with Walmart’s essential workers when it comes to training. Associates sometimes have a better notion of how to make compliance easier and may have suggestions on better safety protocols, since they’re on the front lines and know what procedures work and which don’t.
Meanwhile, when home chefs grew weary of cooking meals during lockdown, many turned to meal kits like those from HelloFresh. To ensure the safety of its in-demand products, HelloFresh increased hygiene processes and hired additional quality assurance teams to keep its food safety procedures from being disrupted.
“We’ve learned we can deliver more while still ensuring that food safety is not compromised,” says Janet Cox, associate director of food safety and compliance at Berlin-based HelloFresh.