New GFSI position paper introduces refined framework to help organisations globally embed measurable food safety culture and drive continuous improvement worldwide.
The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) has launched an updated position paper introducing a refined framework designed to help organisations strengthen and measure food safety culture across the global food system.
Unveiled this week at the GFSI Conference in Vancouver, the new edition of A Culture of Food Safety draws on insights from more than 180 academic and industry sources, including behavioural science, organisational research and empirical studies.
Building on the widely cited 2018 edition, which helped establish a common language for discussing food safety culture, version 2.0 introduces a dual-layered model that links organisational values with everyday operational behaviour.
The framework identifies two core components: ‘Organisational Foundations’, encompassing leadership, purpose and shared values that shape an organisation’s DNA, and ‘Manifested Practices’, the visible behaviours and day-to-day actions that ensure food safety across the supply chain.
According to GFSI, aligning these two layers enables companies to move beyond regulatory compliance and instead embed a culture focused on continuous improvement and proactive risk management.
Framework aims to embed measurable food safety culture
The paper reinforces the initiative’s central premise that food safety culture is not solely driven by leadership or training programmes, but by the interaction of shared values, behaviours, risk awareness and organisational learning. To be effective, the report argues, food safety culture must also be measurable, actionable and continuously improved.
Elizabeth Andoh-Kesson, Interim Director of GFSI, said: “Food safety culture is a critical determinant of food safety outcomes – and strong food safety cultures are built through shared values, consistent behaviours and a deep awareness of risk.
Too often, food safety is only high on the agenda when there is a crisis, which has to change. In an increasingly complex food system, food safety should go beyond formal regulations to live within the culture of an organisation.”
Alongside the updated framework, the paper outlines recommendations for industry, regulators and certification bodies. These include adopting an integrated systems-and-culture approach to food safety management, using GFSI’s five-dimension framework when developing standards and training programmes, and assessing food safety culture through multiple indicators rather than a single metric.
The report also calls for further research into underexplored areas, particularly consistency and organisational adaptability, which remain less studied in the current literature.
No comments yet