Respect the listeria cavalry
THE food safety scenario in South Africa has, by virtue of the sad consequences of the listeria outbreak, been given a violent shake-up. While much of the attention has been focussed on the companies potentially implicated, it may also be helpful to consider the role played by the unseen cavalry which safeguards against such occurrences.
These role-players are myriad in any production system and range from senior management to the person cleaning the floor. Every employee in any food production and distribution facility has a role to play in ensuring the safety chain.
A critical part of these teams are the food scientists and technologists we train at CPUT and who are employed by companies. They are key to implementing, managing and conducting internal audits. There are other auditing and verification layers but these staff are where the rubber hits the road.
During my teaching career, I always advised students that they are the guardians of public health by ensuring that safe, nutritious food enters the consumption chain. The present disaster serves to illustrate this point. However, notwithstanding the crucial role played by such staff, they are sometimes not rewarded accordingly.
My understanding of value for money in terms of a salary is that you are paid based on the risk that presents itself in meeting your job requirements. Ensuring such safety practices in this environment does carry many risks, with failure leading ultimately to that we are reading about today.
Engaging in casual or formal talks with different role-players, it does not seem as if this is always taken into account, and recognised as such, by all companies. In instances, the quality management and control teams are sometimes deemed a necessary nuisance and treated as such.
Similarly with salaries paid. Young food technology graduates are placed in positions with a large responsibility at minimal salaries to appease the gods of food safety while minimising the payroll.
On occasion, based on adverts I see and feedback from alumni, in some smaller companies especially employees are kept on a short-term contract immediately prior to audits to fix a system, then dispensed with soon after the audit.
I have two problems with this:
1. Devaluing the crucial role played by such people based on an inappropriate salary has implications for food safety. The incumbent feels this lack of appreciation of their role and it may, especially for younger personnel, lead to stress and demoralisation. This in turn could lead to shoddy workmanship.
2. Furthermore, fellow staff may also view the position of such an incumbent as being of lower value, concomitantly affecting adherence to standard operating procedures.
We need to ensure that personnel employed in such quality assurance and control positions are made to feel valued, encouraging scrupulous attention to food safety detail. The reward is a better internal food safety system and better compliance with good manufacturing practice.
Furthermore, some form of certification or accreditation is needed to place additional value on such positions and qualifications of the personnel involved. This needs to go beyond the tertiary qualifications required by such personnel, akin to registration of engineers with the Engineering Council of South Africa. One avenue that may be followed, but is not yet valued by the food industry, is registration with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions.
In terms of the bigger picture, a valued and happy workforce will inevitably lead to better outputs, including that of food safety. Recognise your personnel involved in this crucial role or else you may have to ’fess up one day, heaven forbid!
LARRY DOLLEY CPUT: Head of Department: Food Technology