Perspectives on Effectiveness of Food Safety Management Systems During Pandemic

Abstract

Food safety management systems (FSMSs) are available to support manufacturers and their supply chains in protecting consumers and maintaining desirable business reputations. FSMS implementation can be challenging and so also is ensuring system effectiveness. Several effectiveness factors of FSMS have been reported in the literature and FSMS effectiveness is an important consideration during challenging periods, such as the Pandemic. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, a possible spread through the food supply chain has been a concern, especially regarding food safety. Discussions of the role of FSMSs in addressing those concerns are a developing topic. The research objective of this paper is to determine if COVID-19 changed the focus of food safety practitioners on different FSMS effectiveness factors. A case study approach is adopted to accomplish the research objective, using a focus group in the glass container manufacturing industry. The focus group involved seven stakeholders of a container glass organization in the US. An open-ended question exercise regarding critical effectiveness factors was the central methodology of the focus group discussions. The focus group was asked to give their perspective on the possible impacts of COVID-19 on a set of crucial effectiveness factors of FSMS. The research concluded that the COVID-19 Pandemic shifted practitioners' emphasis from fostering the employees' pro-social behaviour to procedures and processes.