US Foods further solidified its position as a food safety leader by participating in the 2013 Food Safety Summit in Baltimore this week.
In a workshop titled, "Tools for the food Safety professional: Business Acumen, Executive Speak, Communication and Leadership Style," Jorge Hernandez, senior vice president of food safety and quality assurance for US Foods spoke about the importance of making sure to cascade food safety tools and resources throughout the organization.
"Creating a food safety culture is paramount to any organization within the food industry and it takes more than simply having a food safety professional on staff," said Hernandez. "As food safety experts, it’s our responsibility to accurately and efficiently communicate the benefits of good food safety practices throughout our organizations."
The workshop provided four separate breakouts focused on communicating financial advantages to CFOs, condensing food safety platforms for CEOs, presenting programs to upper management and utilizing essential metrics when assessing compliance and communicating success.
"The benefits of a thoughtful and proactive food safety platform are clear to food safety experts, but not necessarily as apparent to other parts of the business," said Hernandez. "Our goal is to provide food safety professionals with the business acumen to effectively enact change within their company."
In addition to his work with the Food Safety Summit, Hernandez co-chairs the Global Food Safety Initiative’s Storage and Distribution Working Group. In this role, he is charged with the identification of the current best food safety practices in relation to Storage and Distribution and with establishing the criteria for auditing the performance of food safety systems within this segment of the food chain.
In 2012, US Foods said that it expects to be the first national foodservice distributor in the country to be certified in food safety and quality to the International Featured Standard (IFS), a globally recognized standard for safety and quality. Each of the more than 60 US Foods facilities are expected to be certified by 2014.
About US Foods
US Foods, Inc. is a large foodservice distributor serving chefs and foodservice operators across the country. Its customers include independent and multi-unit restaurants, healthcare and hospitality entities, government and educational institutions. The company employs approximately 25,000 people in 61 locations nationwide. US Foods is headquartered in Rosemont, Ill.