Fresh Approaches to Food Safety Training for Grocers

The value of technology as a food safety training tool has not been lost on Topco Associates. This major grocery aggregator with 52 member-owners located in Elk Grove Village, Ill., opted to improve its employee training for all of its members. “Some of our members have relied heavily on verbalized one-on-one training and you can’t expect too much from that,” says Howard Popoola, Topco vice president of quality assurance. “There has to be standardization of training and the platform allows us to do that.”

According to Popoola, the training technology platform rectifies a previous problem with grocery employee training—information overload. “The employee used to be required to watch video after video and it was counterproductive,” Popoola says.

The Topco executive reports that response to the platform from supervisors and employees is overwhelmingly positive. “It’s very specific to what we do and our members who have used it, love it,” he says. “They especially like the fact that all their current training courses can be used within the platform, which preserves the investment they have made over many years.”

Another factor that corroborates the importance of thorough training and validation of comprehension is risk. The cost of risk to retailers nationwide is $21 billion according to a December 2011 article in Risk Management. It identifies liability as the second highest operational expense. Only workers compensation is higher. While these figures apply to all retail operations, the message they convey is clear. Grocers should consider food safety training every bit as important as the other steps they take to alleviate risks and the litigation that is bound to follow if they don’t. “You should factor what the costs would be if a foodborne illness would be traced to your store,” Topco’s Popoola says.

Most retail grocers constantly fight the battle of low margins, which is all the more reason to consider the positive impact that training technology can have on cost reduction as well as food safety. Through an interactive training module, workers can learn, for instance, how to reject produce that doesn’t meet standards and greatly reduce the potential for waste, spoilage, and the costs associated with both. Studies have shown operations that engage their employees also lessen the amount and frequency of turnover, which is why there is so much emphasis on the interactive component of training. It turns the employees into active participants rather than disengaged and bored listeners who probably will neither retain nor apply the information.

Store owners and managers should not assume that training has been successfully completed because an employee has signed an attendance document or barely passed a test. Training has to be presented, repeated, and updated so that employees can develop a sense of commitment to recognize and avoid cross contamination, maintain cleanliness of hands and equipment, and promote a safe workplace.

Dunn Nelson, director of industry relations for Alchemy Systems, LP, has more than 25 years’ experience in food safety and quality control programs for foodservice and retail operations. She can be reached at [email protected].