DEVELOPING A FOOD SAFETY CULTURE - THE IMPERATIVE OF PERFORMANCE LEADERSHIP

Abstract

Food industry laws and formalised standards have done much to make the global food supply safer for those living in today’s industrialised world. Virtually everyone responsible for food safety, from point of origin to plate, receives at least fundamental instruction in safe food handling, along with an explanation of the risks and sanctions imposed when safety standards are ignorantly or willfully disregarded. This has led to the recognition of food safety culture as a key contributory factor to the food safety performance of food establishments and as the main attribute of performance leadership. The aim of this article is to analyse the food safety culture concept and determine food safety culture’s dimensions. The results indicate that major elements to be considered in food safety culture include organisational and administrative characteristics, technical facilities/resources, employee characteristics, group characteristics and actual food safety performance. The results support those of other researches in this field.