Food safety isn’t just a regulatory requirement — it’s a responsibility that every person in the food supply chain carries with them every single day.
I’ve spent over four decades in hospitality and food service operations, and I’ve seen what happens when food safety is treated as a checklist to complete versus a culture to build. What is the difference between those two approaches? One keeps you compliant. The other keeps people safe.
Beyond Audits and Checklists
True food safety goes beyond preparing for audits and checking boxes. It’s built on four foundational pillars:
Every decision made along the food supply chain — from the chemical formulator creating a sanitizer, to the equipment manufacturer designing a CIP system, to the operator running that system at 2 AM — impacts consumer health, brand trust, and business continuity. When food safety is built into processes from the very beginning, risks are reduced, recalls are prevented, and confidence is strengthened at every level.
Strong Preventive Controls
This is where manufacturers and operators need to speak the same language. A manufacturer might design the most sophisticated CIP system in the world. Still, if the operator doesn’t understand how proper spray coverage prevents biofilm formation, that technology doesn’t deliver its full value. Preventive controls work when everyone understands the “why” behind the “what.”
For operators: Know your critical control points. Understand what can go wrong and when. Don’t just follow the procedure — understand why that temperature matters, why that contact time is non-negotiable, why that rinse sequence is designed the way it is.
For manufacturers: Design systems that make preventive controls intuitive, not complicated. Build in visual indicators. Create maintenance protocols that operators can actually follow in real-world conditions. Your innovation only works if it works on the second shift with a brand-new employee.
A Culture of Accountability
Food safety culture isn’t created in a conference room — it’s created on the production floor, in the dish room, at the brew deck. It happens when the newest team member feels empowered to stop a process if something doesn’t look right, and when experienced operators share knowledge rather than shortcuts. When manufacturers stand behind their products with training and support, not just installation and invoicing.
Ongoing Training and Awareness
Here’s what I’ve learned: one training session doesn’t create competency. Regular, practical, hands-on training does. The operator needs to understand that the sanitizer concentration isn’t just a number on a test strip — it’s the difference between a safe product and a recalled product. The supervisor needs to understand how equipment design affects cleaning efficacy to make informed decisions about new systems.
And manufacturers — this is your opportunity. The companies that invest in operator education, that create clear documentation, that help their customers understand not just how to use their product but how it works — those are the companies that build long-term partnerships.
The most dangerous phrase in food safety is “we’ve always done it this way.” Effective food safety programs evolve. They incorporate new technology. They learn from near-misses. They adapt to changing production schedules, new product lines, and different equipment.
This requires partnership between operators and manufacturers. When an operator identifies a real-world challenge with a process, and a manufacturer listens and adapts, that’s when innovation happens. That’s when we move from reactive firefighting to proactive problem-solving.
Protecting More Than Products
Continuous Improvement — Not Reactive Fixes
When organizations prioritize food safety, they protect more than products — they protect people. They protect consumers who trust that their food is safe. They protect the brand that has been built over years or decades. They protect the employee who takes pride in doing their job right. They protect the business from the devastating financial and reputational costs of a recall.
Because at the end of the day, safe food should never be optional. It should be the standard we all commit to — whether we’re formulating the chemistry, designing the equipment, or running the process that brings it all together.
The Bottom Line
Food safety is everyone’s job. It requires technical knowledge and practical wisdom. It demands partnership between those who make the tools and those who use them daily. It needs both the manufacturer’s innovation and the operator’s real-world experience.
That’s the conversation we need to keep having — because every day, we’re making decisions that affect someone’s meal, someone’s health, someone’s trust.
Let’s make sure we’re making the right ones.