How to Reinforce Food Defense Among Managers, Supervisors, and Frontline Employees [Free Download]

Protecting your facility from the threat of adulteration and tampering is crucial to ensuring the wellbeing of your customers, employees, and brand reputation. Maintaining high food defense standards requires a company-wide effort — with different responsibilities falling on managers, supervisors, and frontline employees. 

To ensure everyone in your facility understands the importance of a comprehensive food defense strategy and their role in it, you can implement specific policies, training, and employee engagement efforts. By creating an effective food defense plan, you can better safeguard the integrity of your operations. 

Why is food defense important?  

Food defense is, first and foremost, a requirement of both the FDA (Food Safety Modernization Act) and the GFSI scheme with which food production companies must comply.  

Even more important is protecting your facility from threats to ensure the food products on shelves meet consumers' expectations for safety. While it can be difficult to fathom who would commit malicious acts against the food supply, simply hoping it won’t happen isn’t an option. In the event of an attack, the result of recalls or threats to public health not only erode consumer trust but also cause long-term damage to your brand reputation and bottom line.  

How to Reinforce Food Defense Among Managers  

Your facility's managers need to thoroughly understand not only their role in the food defense plan, but also the roles of the employees who report to them.  

What They Do  

Facility managers are responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining robust food defense programs. As the overseer of any food defense program, they must do the following:  

• Conduct regular vulnerability assessments  

• Turn mitigation strategies into actionable plans  

• Implement monitoring processes  

• Establish a multidisciplinary food defense team  

What They Need  

Managers need to receive proper training in food defense program management. A program like AIB International’s Food Defense Coordinator Seminar can provide managers with actionable strategies and the latest regulations to help them enforce food defense in their facilities. The course also teaches managers how to provide relevant food defense training to other employees. Participants who pass the post-course exam can receive an AIB International Food Defense Coordinator Certification.   

How to Reinforce Food Defense Among Supervisors 

As liaisons between managers and frontline employees, supervisors also play a crucial role in making a food defense plan run smoothly. 

What They Do 

Supervisors are tasked with not only ensuring food defense programs run smoothly but also remaining vigilant for food defense risks among employees. They should be equipped to do the following: 

• Conduct background checks on all employees and contractors  
• Train frontline staff on food defense and security awareness  
• Address employees’ needs and wellbeing  
• Manage records for material and product traceability  
• Maintain the facility’s physical security by performing periodic checks on alarms, cameras, entry and exit points, and other control systems 

What They Need 

To reinforce food defense among supervisors, they need to be trained in measures spanning policy, employee management, and physical security. One way to equip supervisors with these skills is with AIB International’s FSPCA Intentional Adulteration Conducting Vulnerability Assessments course. The training teaches supervisors how to tackle these demands as well as how to detect vulnerabilities, analyze vulnerability assessment data, and identify characteristics of an insider attacker.  

How to Reinforce Food Defense Among Frontline Employees 

Frontline employees are the heart of any facility and often have more insight into day-to-day activity than supervisors and managers. They need to be aware of food defense strategies and feel empowered to take an active role in keeping the facility safe. 

What They Do 

As the team members who are typically alerting their supervisors of tampering or adulteration, frontline employees are the critical first line of defense. As a result, they need to be trained in the following:  

• Knowing the health risks caused by intentional contamination 
• Understanding the company’s food defense plan 
• Learning how to detect, report, and record suspicious activity 

What They Need 

To help frontline workers recognize their responsibility in ensuring the integrity of the food supply, supervisors or managers must find a way to teach them how food defense fits into the big picture of food protection. AIB International’s Food Safety Essentials course trains frontline employees about food defense so they can stay vigilant in all areas of food safety.  

Food Defense Starts With Your Team 

Your company’s food defense program is only as strong as the employees you have trained to implement and uphold it. These managers, supervisors, and frontline employees must not only understand the dangers of food adulteration but also how to avert it in their everyday work. 

The best food defense is one that’s personalized to your facility’s needs. If you’re looking for a partner to help you build a tailored program, learn more about AIB International’s private training.