Point of View
June 2007

“Let me share with you what I believe are four critical success factors needed to make significant leaps in food safety"
by Frank Yiannas, IAFP President        

Recent high profile outbreak s of foodborne disease in the United States (and elsewhere) have created political and professional pressure for additional food safety controls and management systems. Some say we nee d stricter food safety st andards. Others claim we need more re gulatory oversight. Yet others say we need a single food safety agency.

Regardless of what you think the answer could be, I believe we are at one of those defining moments for our profession. We stand on the brink of an opportunity to accelerate advances as a profession or continue with more traditional food safety approaches.

Although I don’t think there is any question that in many parts of the food system and world we have made good progress in the battle against foodborne disease, for those of us with a passion for advancing food safety and protecting public health worldwide, we would like to see even more progress made. Despite the fact that thousands of employees have been trained in food safety around the world, millions have been spent globally on food safety research, and countless inspections and tests have been performed at home and abroad, food safety remains a significant public health challenge.

With this thought i n mind, let me share with you what I believe are four critical succe ss facto rs
needed to make significant leaps in food safety.

One, to make significant leaps in food safety, we need creativity and innovation. The definition of an innovation is the act of introducing something new. From a food safety perspective, an innovation can be a new or enhanced food safety practice, a new food safety product, or a new food production technology. The bottom line is that creativity and innovation leads to change and change can lead to even greater reductions in the risk of foodborne disease. Simply put, it is impossible to advance food safety without change.

Two, to make significant leaps in food safety, we need leadership. As I have shared before, it’s interes ting to me that in the field of food safety today, we often talk about food safety management. We rarely talk about food safety leadershi p. But management and leadership are different. Food safety management focuses on the administration of set procedures within an established risk management system; food safety leadership focuses on the creation of new and enhanced risk reduction strategies, models, and processes. To advance food safety, some of us need to be courageous pioneers and help lead the way.

Three, to make significant leaps in food safety, we need to be continual learners and learn from other disciplines. There is no question about it, we need to be continual learners and more research is needed to answer some of the food safety questions of our day. We also need to get better at taking research out of the lab and putting it in contact with the problems in the real-world (in a manner that is effective, reliable, and efficient). We also need to learn from other disciplines such as the medical, information technology, and biotechnology fields to name just a few. I believe some of our greatest future food safety solutions may not even come from within the field of food safety.

Four, to make significant leaps in food safety, we need better collaboration. Remember, the way we get our food from farm to fork, the food system, has become increasingly complex and interdependent on many businesses and individuals. Today more than ever, food safety is truly a shared responsibility. Regulators, academicians, consumers, and industry professionals must recognize that we can do more to advance food safety by working together than by working alone.

Over the past few years as an executive board member of IAFP, I have been very fortunate to meet many of our members and food safety professionals from all over the country and world. It is because of this experience that I remain convinced that the future of food safety looks very bright. Never before in history have we, as a profession, been so well suited to advance food safety through innovation, leadership, research, and collaboration.

I encourage you to become part of IAFP as we and our mem-bers help lead the way in advancing food safety worldwide.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please let me know. You can e-mail me at frank.yiannas@disney.com. Until next month, thanks for reading.