Food safety is an extremely important issue for any company operating in the food sector, whether in production or processing as well as in food transportation, distribution, or sales.
It involves the prevention and control of risks that can compromise the quality, safety, and integrity of food, causing damage to consumer health and the company’s reputation.
To ensure food safety, it is essential that the company has an FST – Food Safety Team –, built with trained professionals committed to good practices in manufacturing, hygiene, handling, storage, and transportation of food.
But what is an FST and who should be part of it?
FST is the acronym for Food Safety Team, which is a multidisciplinary group responsible for planning, implementing, monitoring, and improving the food safety management system in companies.
The FST must include representatives from as many sectors as possible involved in the food production chain, such as production, quality, logistics, sales, marketing, HR, purchasing, etc.
The FST must also have the support and direct involvement of the company’s senior management, who must provide the resources, tools, support, and recognition necessary for the team to function properly.
Why is the FST important?
The FST is important because it is responsible for ensuring that the food produced by the company complies with legal and regulatory food safety requirements, as well as customer expectations and needs.
The FST is also responsible for identifying and managing hazards and Critical Control Points (CCP) that may affect food safety, using tools such as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP). 
The team is also responsible for promoting continuous improvement of the food safety management system, seeking to prevent non-conformities, correct failures, eliminate waste, reduce costs, increase productivity, innovation, and competitiveness.
Is the FST mandatory for ISO 22000 certified companies?
The answer is yes! The FST is mandatory for ISO 22000 certified companies, as it is the international standard that establishes the requirements for a food safety management system.
The ISO 22000 standard requires the company to have a food safety team that is responsible for:
• Establishing, implementing, maintaining, and updating the food safety management system;
• Communicating information about the performance and effectiveness of the food safety management system to senior management;
• Ensuring that the food safety management system complies with applicable legal and regulatory requirements;
• Ensuring that food safety objectives and targets are established, measured, and reviewed;
• Ensuring that the necessary resources for the food safety management system are provided and allocated;
• Ensuring that employees are aware, trained, and skilled in relation to food safety;
• Ensuring that internal and external communications about food safety are effective and appropriate;
• Ensuring that internal and external food safety audits are conducted and monitored;
• Ensuring that corrective and preventive food safety actions are implemented and monitored;
• Ensuring that critical analysis of the food safety management system is performed periodically.
But how can we make the FST more engaging, captivating, and effective in food safety management?
In this post, I’ll give you some tips to improve the performance of your FST and make it more engaging. Check it out!
1) Define FST roles and responsibilities
The first tip is to clearly define the roles and responsibilities of each FST member, according to their skills, abilities, and experiences. The FST must have a leader, who will be responsible for coordinating, guiding, motivating, and evaluating the team, in addition to being the contact between the team and the company’s senior management.
The FST must also have members with specific roles, such as:
• Responsible for preparing and updating documents related to food safety, such as manuals, procedures, instructions, records, etc.;
• Responsible for conducting and monitoring internal and external food safety audits, verifying compliance with legal and regulatory requirements;
• Responsible for identifying, analyzing, evaluating, and handling food safety risks, using tools such as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP);
• Responsible for implementing and monitoring corrective and preventive food safety actions, aiming to eliminate or reduce non-conformities and identify opportunities for improvement;
• Responsible for training and raising awareness among employees about the importance of food safety, promoting training events, lectures, campaigns, etc.
By defining the FST roles and responsibilities, you will be helping the team to have greater clarity, organization, autonomy, and commitment to their activities.
2) Establish food safety goals and indicators
The second tip is to establish food safety goals and indicators, which must be aligned with the company’s policy, objectives, and strategy.
Targets should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely (SMART), and should reflect the expected results for food safety management. Indicators must be quantitative or qualitative, and must enable measuring the performance, effectiveness, and efficiency of food safety management.
Some examples of food safety goals and indicators are:
• Reduce the number of customer complaints related to food quality and safety by W%;
• Increase the compliance rate of internal and external food safety audits by X%;
• Reduce the number of non-conformities and corrective and preventive food safety actions by Y%;
• Increase the level of satisfaction and knowledge of employees regarding food safety by Z%.
By establishing food safety goals and indicators, you will be helping the team to have more focus, motivation, challenging them, and recognizing their activities.
3) Promote communication and collaboration between the FST and other company sectors
The third tip is to promote communication and collaboration between the FST and other company sectors, such as production, quality, logistics, sales, marketing, etc.
Communication must be clear, objective, frequent, and bidirectional, using the appropriate channels and methods for each situation, such as emails, meetings, message boards, newsletters, etc. It must involve the sharing of information, knowledge, experiences, feedback, suggestions, praise, and criticism and be based on cooperation, trust, respect, transparency, ethics, and responsibility, seeking integration, synergy, solution of problems, and continuous improvement.
Collaboration must involve participation, contribution, cooperation, coordination, negotiation, decision-making, implementation, and evaluation of food safety actions. By promoting communication and collaboration between the FST and other company sectors, you will be enabling the team to have greater integration, relationships, learning opportunities, and innovation in its activities.
4) Recognize and value the FST work
The fourth tip is to recognize and value the FST work, demonstrating your appreciation, recognition, and gratitude for the team’s dedication, effort, and results.
Recognition and appreciation can be done in different ways, such as:
• Praise and thank the team for their achievements and gains, publicly or privately, verbally or in writing;
• Reward and encourage the team for their performance and merits, materially or immaterially, individually or collectively;
• Develop and train the team based on their potential and talents, continuously or specifically, formally or informally;
• Empower the team and delegate activities based on their knowledge and skills, gradually or immediately, partially or fully.
By recognizing and valuing the FST work, you will be contributing to the team having greater self-esteem, self-confidence, self-motivation, and self-development in their activities.
Conclusion
In this post, I have provided some tips to improve the performance of your FST and make it more engaging. I hope they are useful for you and your company.
Remember that food safety is an extremely important issue for your business, and that the FST is a fundamental team to guarantee the quality, safety, and integrity of your products.
Therefore, invest in your FST, give it the resources, tools, support, and recognition it deserves, and reap the rewards of more effective and efficient food safety management.
If you liked this post and want to learn more about how SoftExpert can help you guarantee food safety in your company through technology, contact us. We look forward to the opportunity to work with you.
