Fostering food safety culture through CSR principles
19/10/2011
While for some companies, third party audit adds value to their processes and supply chain, for other companies whose brand reputation has suffered due to food scares and product recalls, certification is necessary to gain or restore their stakeholders’ trust.
Recurring food safety breaches around the world have shaken the consumer confidence. Consumers’ minds are occupied with these safety scares. It takes years to build a brand and one safety breach is enough to destroy it.
More and more organisations are regulating their supply chains heavily with stringent rules and regulations and of course international standards. While third – party certification adds value to the organisation and its stakeholders, they have not been very successful in galvanizing consumer confidence. Certification provides a company a basic framework for food safety. For some companies, third party audit adds value to their processes and supply chain. On the other hand, for other companies whose brand reputation has suffered due to food scares and product recalls, certification is necessary to gain or restore their stakeholders’ trust.
LRQA believes that for most organisations, there is a need to develop an effective stakeholders’ engagement process to prevent food safety issues. Typically companies will pay attention to their primary stakeholders, which are the shareholders, consumers and legislators. However, other stakeholders such as suppliers, employees, community & NGO do not get the same priority.
Food safety issues affect everybody within the company and also the company’s stakeholders. If companies lose their licence to operate, so will the employees and it will have an economic impact to the community. By involving the employees from beginning, organisations can better improve its food safety practices.
Companies also need to understand their obligation to the general safety practice at workplace. It is hard to create a food safety culture if the organisation cannot protect the safety and welfare of their employees. If the employees feel that the organisation does not care about their own safety, why should they care about the food safety standard within the factory? These two are interlinked.
In today’s uncertain economic climate, it is not uncommon for organisations to squeeze their suppliers to minimise operating costs. This may lead to use of sub standard products by the suppliers that can have extremely unfavourable repercussions. Inspecting the supply chain is inadequate. Sometimes social investment is required to avoid risks within the supply chain. By understanding some of the difficulties within the supply chain, food companies can work together to achieve win-win, rather than cutting corners to save costs.
Therefore, CSR is becoming an integral part of the food operation.
The above content is an excerpt from the presentation delivered by LRQA's Richard Gunawan, Vice President for Business & Sustainability Development Asia at the recently held CSR Asia Summit 2011 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
To ensure your Food Safety Management System is effectively meeting the requirements of your customers and society at large, visit Food Safety by LRQA.