Food manufacturing is the second-largest manufacturing sector in the Virginia Commonwealth, with over 200 food and beverage processing companies. Over the last decade, they created over 7,900 new jobs and made capital investments totaling $3.4 billion, employing more than 42,000 people—17% of Virginia’s total manufacturing workforce. When it’s a huge contributor to these standings, there is no question that food safety is non-negotiable.
As a business owner, you wouldn’t want deficit employee training to be what stands between you and the agility of your manufacturing operations. And as a consumer, you wouldn’t want it to contaminate the food on your plate.
Due to the delicate nature of the industry, poor workforce development and employee training can be a recipe for dirty and dangerous consequences that spawn things like biofilms on dairy products or stagnant (dead) water in your facility from bad plumbing.
Your employees’ workforce development and training programs are absolutely essential to determining the standardization of operations, lowering risks, and maintaining high-quality food safety standards day in and day out.
Scroll on for specific types of training and the consultants that can provide your team with the right knowledge and skills. They’re fool-proof for keeping food products fresh and safe for consumption.
What you’ll learn:
- Good food manufacturing practices
- 4 safety training food manufacturing consultants can give you
- A way more focused training principle: Lean manufacturing in the food industry
What Your Food Manufacturing Employees Need
According to the FDA, a good food manufacturing business is cookin’ up these six points:
- Regular, focused training on key areas like allergen control, cleaning and sanitation protocols, and the proper procedures for receiving and monitoring incoming ingredients.
- Training programs should encompass not just your employees but also management and suppliers so that everyone involved is well-informed and aligned.
- Assessing training performance to establish a culture of responsibility and accountability within the team.
- Validating cleaning processes through thorough testing methods, such as swabs, organoleptic evaluations, and bioluminescence tests for cleanliness.
- Conducting regular audits and inspections of both your facility and the raw material suppliers. These can be done in-house or through third-party firms to verify compliance.
- Keeping meticulous records of all training activities, raw material handling procedures, sanitation efforts, receiving protocols, and using sign-off logs for thorough documentation.
3 Safety Training Food Manufacturing Consultants Can Help With
Basic Food Safety Training
All employees in food manufacturing must start with basic food safety training. This foundational training covers critical topics such as understanding the sources and types of food hazards, principles of HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points), personal hygiene requirements, and food safety legislation. Whether delivered through online courses, classroom sessions, or on-the-job mentoring, this training ensures that all staff, regardless of their role, are aware of the fundamental principles of food safety.
Specific Food Safety Training
Certain roles within food manufacturing require more specialized food safety training. For example, employees handling raw materials, allergens, or high-risk foods need to be experienced in managing these specific risks. Likewise, those operating, maintaining, or calibrating equipment must know the technical standards and best practices related to these tools. Specialized courses, workshops, or certifications can provide employees with the advanced knowledge necessary to perform their roles safely and have their cake and eat it, too.
Refresher Food Safety Training
Food safety training is not a half-baked, one-time event but a continuous process that adapts to the food industry’s evolving standards. Regular refresher training guarantees that employees stay updated with the latest industry developments, changes in food safety regulations, and emerging customer expectations. This ongoing education helps reinforce knowledge, address any performance gaps, and maintain a consistent commitment to food safety.
Benefits of Food Safety Training
Investing in food safety training offers multiple benefits beyond regulatory compliance. Stronger employee competence and confidence mean less errors and accidents. From a business perspective, robust food safety training can improve a company’s reputation for better customer satisfaction and stakeholder trust. Ultimately, these advantages contribute to better product quality, lower operational costs, and higher profitability.
Additional Considerations
Beyond the standard training programs, include roles that are often overlooked, such as Quality, Regulatory, and Supply Chain employees working in headquarters or distribution centers. Extending food safety training to these positions helps create a complete understanding of food safety principles across all levels of the organization.
For example, GENEDGE helped out Salsas Don Sebastian, a Hispanic female-owned business, creating fresh, authentic Mexican salsas and dips, with their quality control and compliance through improved tracking and documentation of costs. This big change aligned every department, including Quality, Regulatory, and Supply Chain, with food safety principles.
The business in Richmond, VA, increased visibility into COGS, which provided deep insights that elevated decision-making capabilities. This ultimately informed pathways for sustainable growth.
“Lean Out” Your Food Manufacturing Processes
Beyond the basics, GENEDGE offers renowned training programs backed by authentic success stories. Just one of these is something called lean manufacturing in the food industry. It helps manufacturers change how they do business at a high level. The goal is to remove waste and replace it with more room for productivity. It is crucial given the instantaneous nature and limited shelf life of food products.
One key lean method that food manufacturers can adopt from the Lean For Growth Program is Value Stream Mapping (VSM). VSM helps identify and eliminate non-value-adding steps in the production process. For example, by analyzing the VSM, you might discover opportunities to cut overproduction—a form of waste identified by the Toyota Production System (TPS) as “Muda.”
The end result all of these trainings give? A more profitable, agile, and responsive food manufacturing business. Request a No-Cost Assessment from GENEDGE to gain access to our full suite of workforce development and training opportunities.
