Food Protection Trends - January/February 2020 - 35

Food safety workshop for commercial apple packers
Egan et al. (6) point out that the primary aims of food
safety training are to bring about change in behavior towards
less risky food handling practices and improve knowledge
about food safety practices. A four-point Likert scale was
used to measure the participants' attitude toward the
workshop, and all participants either strongly agreed or
agreed that participating in the workshop helped improve
their knowledge of appropriate food safety practices. The
response rate for the post-workshop questionnaire was 77.4%
(41 of the 53 individuals who attended the workshop). The
response rate on various questions ranged from 95% to 100%
"strongly agree" or "agree" (data not shown).
Thirty-six participants answered 'yes' to the question,
"Will you use the information from this workshop to train
others from your organization?" and 31 provided the number
of individuals that they would train. The willingness to train
others is important for implementing critical food safety
practices in the workplace. Egan et al. (6) state that effective
training depends on both attitude and willingness on the
part of the manager to provide the resources and systems
for food handlers to implement good practices. Studies have
also identified a correlation between management attitude
towards training, levels of food hygiene knowledge and
standards of food handling practice (27). Additionally, foodhandler training increases food safety and consequently offers
long-term benefits to the food industry (5, 6). More than
one-third of all food recalls between 1999 and 2003 were
related to ineffective employee training (18). Companies not
in compliance can face civil and criminal penalties (18).
Opinions and attitudes of commercial apple packers
on FSMA
Egan et al. (6) recognize that attitude is a cognitive
element that may influence food safety behavior and
practice. Bas et al. (2) agree and add that attitudes ensure a
downward trend of foodborne illness and are an important
factor in addition to knowledge and enforcement. With the
introduction of FSMA and an industry recently impacted
by an outbreak, we hypothesized that attitudes regarding
food safety by company personnel would be a key factor
that potentially affects implementation of food safety
measures by companies in response to this new law. Survey
3 was conducted to assess the attitudes and opinions of the
apple packers about FSMA regulations and their progress
towards implementation about ten months after the food
safety workshop. The response rate for this survey was
52%: 31 companies were sent the survey via email, and 16
companies responded.
Apple packers' characteristics
The respondents of this survey were from Michigan, New
York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Missouri, with the majority
from Michigan (73%) and male (69%) (Table 4). Most

(87%) of the facilities were relatively large facilities, with
$1,000,001 - 10,000,000 in annual sales. The respondents
were also well educated, with 31% having a 4-year college
degree and 19% having a graduate level degree.
FSMA preparation
The apple packers were asked two questions about their
FSMA preparation. The first question focused on the apple
packers taking the initiative and attending training programs
that discussed FSMA-related food safety requirements in
addition to attending the workshop in April 2015. This
question asked, "Besides the Food Safety Workshop you
attended in Grand Rapids, have you personally participated
in any other training programs for FSMA-related food safety
requirements?" The results showed 69% of the respondents
being proactive and attending more training programs on
FSMA after the Food Safety Workshop in April. The Empire
State Training Global GAP workshop, USDA's Webinar on
the Final Rule of FSMA, the Train the Trainers Seminar for
FSMA (Produce Safety Regulation) in Kalamazoo, and the
2015 Food Safety Summit were among the training programs
listed. The second question concentrated on changes that
the facilities had made in response to FSMA and its new
regulatory requirements: "In the past year, have you made
changes to your company's food safety program in response
to new regulatory requirements associated with FSMA?"
Almost a third (31%) of the respondents had already made
changes and another third (31%) planned to do so in the
future. Some of the changes that the 31% who answered
'yes' had made were: implementing a crisis management
team, having environmental testing completed by an outside
vendor, doing in-house adenosine triphosphate (ATP)
tests, increasing water testing, completing a HACCP plan,
revamping cleaning and sanitizing standards of procedures,
adding a food fraud program, and water testing for farms.
One facility planned to develop a water management team.
Following up on the apple packers from the Food Safety
Workshop showed that a significant percentage of these
facilities were continuing to educate themselves on FSMA
and also making changes so as to be compliant with the new
requirements. This proactiveness is an indication of a strong
food safety culture (13).
Apple packers' opinions and attitudes on FSMA
Table 5 displays the opinions and attitudes of commercial apple packers on FSMA (n = 16). Sixty-three percent of the packers admitted to not having fully understood the requirements for
FSMA, and 67% disagreed or strongly disagreed that the FDA
had provided enough tools and information to help their company prepare for FSMA. Over half (56%) of the respondents
disagreed with the statement: "FSMA requirements address all
current processor practices which may contribute to a foodborne
outbreak." Additionally, 60% agreed that "FSMA requirements
will give the FDA too much control over their facility."

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Food Protection Trends - January/February 2020

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