Food safety culture from the perspective of the Australian horticulture industry

Background:

Foodborne illness outbreaks associated with fresh produce suggest a focus on food safety culture within food safety management systems throughout supply chains would benefit the horticulture industry. The recent inclusion of food safety culture in horticulture standards will drive the need for better understanding, integration into business activities, and monitoring, to help mitigate foodborne incidents in horticulture.

Scope and approach: The purpose of this review was to identify definitions of food safety culture and methods of measuring its performance in the context of the Australian horticulture industry. Investigation of how to better apply and integrate a positive food safety culture into existing food safety management systems was conducted. A roadmap for food safety culture improvement in Australian horticulture is presented, highlighting the challenges and opportunities.

Key findings and conclusions: To guide the development of a mature culture of food safety, mixed-method approaches to performance assessment were found to be the most comprehensive, valid, and offer the most potential for use by horticulture businesses. Food safety culture can be developed by using feedback from regular culture assessments that identify weaknesses and opportunities for improvement, leading to increased knowledge, alignment of attitudes, and better food safety and hygiene behaviour. To this end, the development of measurement tools specific to horticulture operations would be beneficial. Despite unforeseen challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian horticulture industry continues to investigate the efficacy of its food safety management.