Corporate Ethics Program for Food Safety at Earth Friendly Foods

Introduction

Earth Friendly Foods packages and distributes organic foods to grocery stores, restaurants, and hotels. The absence of an established corporate ethics program has led to practices that undermine food manufacturing and industrial safety. There is therefore a need to institute a corporate ethics program that will establish operational standards and grant Earth Friendly Foods a competitive advantage, while remaining low cost, easy to implement, and easy to evaluate. Lack of accessibility of relevant information to outbreak investigators exacerbates the situation by making it difficult to assess food safety conditions (Fusaro). The free flow of information should also be incorporated into the ethics program. Earth Friendly Foods is presumed to be dealing with poultry and related products, as the predominant source of cases associated with Salmonella Enterica is shell eggs.

Consumer attention to food safety issues has been heightened by recent outbreaks of E. coli and Salmonella. To gain consumer trust and a resulting competitive advantage, implementing an ethical program will be essential. This trust is nurtured by the existence of greater consistency in the quality and standards of products. Organizations that regularly attend to ethics issues are perceived as placing more value on people than on profit, and as aiming to operate with the highest integrity and honor.

Recommendations for an Ethics Program

The following two recommendations form the core of the proposed corporate ethics program for Earth Friendly Foods. Each addresses a distinct vulnerability in the company's current operations and is accompanied by an analysis of its benefits and limitations.

Employee Hygiene and Contamination Prevention Training

When employees of Earth Friendly Foods possess proper knowledge and skills to handle food without causing contamination, the spread of infection can be controlled. This will also positively impact consumer trust when Earth Friendly Foods employees are perceived as well trained in matters of personal hygiene (McNamara).

Workers must clearly understand the consequences of poor sanitation — both for their own health and for their capacity to spread food-related illness to others. Sanitation policies should be clearly outlined by Earth Friendly Foods and made applicable to everyone within the production environment, including pest control operators, equipment operators, and potential buyers. Implementation of these policies is essential to sustaining employment and protecting the company's reputation, and employees must understand that these policies exist for substantive reasons (Good Agricultural Practices).

When training personnel, a helpful philosophy is to assume that all procedures must be demonstrated by the trainer. Because Earth Friendly Foods operates in different countries, employees may have varying cultural orientations. A trainer should never assume familiarity with a particular procedure, as differences in cultural background may affect how tasks are understood or carried out. Everything from the proper sanitation of outer garments to correct hand-washing technique should be demonstrated explicitly. Training should be delivered in a manner that ensures comprehension by all employees. This includes providing bilingual instructions, using straightforward language, and employing visual tools when necessary.

While training new employees on practices and policies is important, conducting refresher training for experienced staff is equally important. Time should be scheduled to remind personnel of standard hygiene and sanitation policies, particularly when workers develop habits that deviate from established guidelines. Sanitation policies can be reinforced through signs posted in restroom facilities and work areas, presented in graphics and language that effectively communicates to all workers.

The primary limitation of this recommendation involves the cost of training personnel — both the proactive investment in trainers and the forfeited productivity during training time. However, the benefits outweigh these limitations, as proper training prevents losses that could result from contaminated produce reaching consumers.