Food safety culture in ISO 22000
Food safety culture is the way employees at every level put food safety into practice. It is not what is written on paper, but what really happens on the shop floor. The Codex Alimentarius and the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) recognise food safety culture as an explicit requirement. Within ISO 22000 it is anchored in the leadership and support requirements of the standard. You can read more about the requirements of ISO 22000 on the related page.
An auditor does not only check whether you have procedures. They also check whether employees understand why those procedures exist, and whether they follow them consistently without a manager standing next to them.
Food safety culture at a glance
| Aspect | What it involves |
|---|---|
| Definition | Shared values and behaviour around food safety in the organisation |
| Normative basis | Codex Alimentarius CXC 1-1969 (revised 2020), GFSI Culture Position Paper |
| ISO 22000 anchoring | Clause 5 (Leadership) and Clause 7 (Support) |
| Measurable? | Yes, through observations, interviews, surveys and KPI analysis |
| Audit risk | High when implementation on the shop floor is inconsistent |
Why food safety culture is an audit requirement
Rules and procedures are necessary but not sufficient. Food safety incidents often do not happen because procedures are missing. They happen because people do not follow them, do not understand them, or do not dare to report when something goes wrong.
In 2020, the Codex gave explicit direction: culture is part of good food safety management. GFSI requires certification schemes to pay attention to culture development. This means that auditors in BRCGS, IFS, FSSC 22000 and ISO 22000 audits increasingly ask questions about culture.
What do you measure for food safety culture?
Culture is not directly measurable, but you can choose good indicators:
| Indicator | How you measure it |
|---|---|
| Reporting behaviour | Number of near-misses and deviations reported per period |
| Process knowledge | Structured observations on the shop floor per role |
| Leadership behaviour | Frequency of floor visits by management (gemba walks) |
| Training follow-up | Percentage of employees who have completed training and a test |
| Feedback loop | Lead time from report to action and feedback |
A low number of reported deviations is often not a good sign. It can mean employees are afraid of consequences, or that they do not know reporting is useful.
How do you improve food safety culture?
Step 1: measure the current situation
Start with a baseline measurement. Combine three methods:
- Observations on the shop floor: Watch discreetly whether hygiene rules are followed when no manager is present.
- Short interviews: Ask five to ten employees the same questions about food safety rules and why they exist.
- KPI analysis: Look at reports, CAPAs, repeat deviations and training results over the last six months.
Step 2: organise feedback
Employees report more when they see that something is done with their reports. Make the feedback loop visible: “Last month you reported twelve deviations. This led to this improvement.”
Step 3: leadership as a role model
Culture starts with what management does, not with what it says. Managers who skip hygiene rules themselves implicitly steer their team towards the same behaviour.
Common mistake: starting a culture improvement with a training-only approach. Training helps, but behaviour change also needs consistent follow-up, visible leadership and an environment where reporting is safe.
Step 4: integrate culture measurement into your FSMS
Add food safety culture as its own item on the agenda of the management review. Do not leave it to the annual audit.
Examples per type of organisation
Production company
Production company (150 employees)
Problem: many repeat deviations in cleaning. Analysis shows that the shift handover instructions are vague.
Approach: a standard briefing at every shift change, a named person responsible for each zone, and results discussed in the team meeting after four weeks.
Result: reports increase (a good indicator), and repeat deviations fall.
Food safety culture and HACCP: the connection
A HACCP system only works if the people who carry it out understand what they do and why. A good HACCP plan and PRP system gives paper certainty, but not if the practice on the shop floor lags behind. Food safety culture is the human side of the same coin.
Auditors assess CCP monitoring not only on the records. They also check whether the employee knows what they are monitoring and what to do when a limit is exceeded.