Purpose: The objective of this study was to compare the food safety climate in two vegetable processing companies with similar activities, technology and level of the food safety management system. Also the relation between the food safety climate, the food safety management system and the actual output of the company (hygiene and food safety) was investigated (=food safety culture).
Methods: The two vegetable processing companies were screened on their food safety climate and level of implemented food safety management system by application of self-assessment questionnaires. Also objective data of food safety/hygiene output of the companies were collected by means of microbiological product sampling and hand swabbing.
Results: The food safety climate score was significantly higher in company 1 compared to company 2. This difference was further investigated by looking at the correlation of food safety climate with certain variables. Food safety climate was positively correlated with seniority in the current job, seniority in the food industry and conscientiousness. Also, a permanent contract tends to give higher food safety climate scores than temporary contracts. The similar technology, food safety management system and company characteristics resulted in a high output level for both companies, although food safety climate scores of company 1 were higher than those of company 2.
Significance: It was not possible to see a clear effect of the food safety climate on the output as the good output level could be a consequence of the good technology and elaborated food safety management system (‘ceiling effect’). However, the study showed some interesting relations between the different variables measured.