Ways to Evidence Management Commitment in the Food Industry

HACCP Mentor recently posted a blog on Linked In asking for feedback on management commitment and how different food businesses go through and prove that management is committed beyond the standard offering of providing funding for food safety and quality assurance activities. It was very interesting with the feedback that came back as to how different businesses are going through with this side of things.

The main thing when you get audited for management commitment, you always have to provide evidence on how management is committed to the food safety and quality process. So, I’m just going to go through some of the ones that were posted and you can see whether you are doing them in your business. If you have any other examples, feel free to post below in our comments section and we can add those to the list.

Food Safety & Quality Policy

Probably the main one, which is pretty well standard, is actually having a quality or food safety policy, which has been signed by management. This policy is then located in places that the staff can observe. All staff have access to the policy whether it’s in the staff room or in the staff induction books, or on the food business website. This policy is written and shows the direction of the company in regards to food safety and quality activities.

KPI Reporting and Management Commitment

The next one we have is the KPI meeting reports. So, key performance indicators. Management is required to go through and set those KPIs and then, report on those KPIs on a regular basis.

Ways to Evidence Management Commitment in the Food Industry

Training Initiatives

Training initiatives is also a very, very big one. Management can show commitment by making sure that all staff are trained to the level to be able to adequately undertake their jobs – to make sure that they are producing safe and quality food. Training can take the form of on the job training, external training, or online training.

External Expertise

Another suggestion provided by colleagues of Linked In was the use of external expertise. This shows management commitment that they care enough to get external experts in to come and advise within their business.

Internal Audit

Having management involved in the internal audit process is a good way to show commitment. By management getting down on the production floor, they will understand what is actually going on within the business.

HACCP Team Meetings

Participating in regular meetings with the HACCP team, which includes management review.

Actions on identified issues

A big on that came through was a timely resolution of any identified corrective actions or preventative actions that get identified during this audit process, or during a general staff mechanism of reporting or feeding back. Making sure that things that do get identified actually get fixed and they happen in a timely manner.

Funding

The other big one was, obviously, funding which was said that in the introduction to this article. Funding capital projects, funding the human resources that go with keeping a food safety and quality system up and running and implemented within your business.

I hope these bits of evidence will help you, when you go for your next audit, to be able to show how management in your business is committed to the process.

 

 

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