Food Safety Update: Employee Training

The Food Safety Update section of Food Manufacturing is designed to offer our readers insight into the state of food safety concerns across the industry. We received hundreds of responses to this month’s survey on employee training.

Though a plurality of respondents (37.9 percent) to a recent Food Manufacturing survey indicated training as the most difficult part of their plant’s employment process, food processors report significant training achievements, especially with regard to food safety.

Some of these achievements can be seen in the graph at right. In order to achieve these benefits, 60.9 percent of survey respondents say training in their facilities is an ongoing process, rather than a single or even repeat event.

Over 70 percent of Food Manufacturing readers reported keeping employees for an average of three or more years. Nearly a quarter (24 percent) said employees remain employed for 10 or more years. This level of extended employment allows ongoing training efforts to reach higher levels, and the vast majority of food processors (81.7 percent) report that employees are promoted and trained on higher level positions once they become proficient in a current role. Perhaps because of the preponderance of highly qualified plant floor employees working in many food processing facilities, 67 percent of survey respondents reported involving these employees in HACCP planning and food safety protocol and training development.

Keep reading about what the survey showed here.