Now, a new University of Otago initiative aims to improve food safety in New Zealand, by focusing on human behaviours in the food industry which can lead to food-borne illnesses.
The illnesses — which can be serious or life-threatening — can be caused by harmful bacteria and viruses which grow on food, including Campylobacter, Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Listeria, Bacillus cereus, Norovirus and Vibrio.
As well as nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea (which can be bloody), they can cause allergic reactions, headaches, stomach cramps or pains, fever, chills and muscle or joint aches.
The symptoms can show up unannounced in as little as 20 minutes, or it can be weeks before they manifest.
The university has launched the Food Safety Culture Lab — a first-of-its-kind New Zealand multidisciplinary research group that will investigate how people working in the food industry navigate safety systems, balance operational pressures, deal with uncertainty and respond to risk.
Research co-leader and Otago food science researcher Prof Miranda Mirosa said the industry had strict safety rules and policies, but staff did not always adhere to them.
‘‘When we look at how people get sick, it is often because someone hasn’t followed the rules.
‘‘It may be that they don’t have the knowledge or skills, there may be language barriers, they may have no motivation to follow the rules or their workplace set-up doesn’t make doing the right thing the easy option.’’
She said the lab would provide evidence-based insights into how food safety culture could be most effectively measured, actioned and sustained across the sector.
The research team would work with companies to pinpoint any issues and what could be done about them.
‘‘It could be developing and testing different interventions to improve the food safety culture, like a training module; point-of-decision prompts; and short, safety-focused huddles.’’
Prof Mirosa said there was a strong global focus on food safety culture and the lab would work to support the long-term development of this focus as a collective, evidence-informed practice throughout New Zealand.
