‘The Food Safety Culture Journey’ was the theme for Dairysafe’s fourth Industry Forum held on 21 April, where 26 people from 18 dairy companies came together at Dairysafe’s new training facility at its Parkside offices..
Melissa Jackson, Bega Dairy and Drinks, and Tina Filipidis, Fleurieu Milk Company, shared their experiences and food safety culture stories from within their respective companies.
The presentations provided excellent insight, and those attending enjoyed hearing about the different approaches to food safety culture while also appreciating the opportunity to connect with industry colleagues.
The key themes were communication, trust, being proactive, use of technology, company values, teamwork, and controlling change management.
They spoke about positive impacts on teamwork, downtime and wastage, productivity and efficiency, collaboration and problem-solving, customer confidence and customer complaints, regulatory compliance, business growth, brand protection, morale, enhanced workforce retention, job satisfaction, and worker performance. They also shared highlights of their journeys and examples of useful tools, concepts and processes that large, medium and small businesses can consider.
Both presenters provided great examples of how they do business, what works for them, and how to realise a successful culture.
“The forum provided a good learnings and feedback for businesses at any stage of their food safety culture journey, and hopefully encouraged a number of companies to nominate for the 2023 Food Safety Culture Award,” said Geoff Raven, CEO of Dairysafe.
The forum was also the first opportunity for industry to utilise Dairysafe’s new training room at the Parkside office, which allowed a mix of face-to-face and virtual attendance. Those that attended in person rated the venue highly and looked forward to the next opportunity to connect and network.
We look forward to coming together with the industry in three to four months to explore the next key forum topic.
