Training is worth the cost

That's the message of C.J. Reynolds, director of education services for Silliker Inc., Maplewood, Ill at last Saturday's food safety short course. Reynolds examines the importance of food safety training and introduces a speaker from another company who has developed an interactive training method. Here is the audio for Reynolds from the United Fresh Produce Association's Food Safety 101 short course May 5.

She notes that often training is a considered a cost "not worth the investment," as companies always have other plant priorities.
The pressure of production schedules - combined with the lack of training expertise - are the biggest barriers to training, but she pointed out that training sessions don't necessarily have to be long to be effective.

"Frequency is very important; you should have training as often as possible, but not to the length you may think it needs to be done," she said. She points out that a 30-minute introduction to food safety principles followed with a 5-minute preproduction session every week is likely more effective than an hour long session every six months.

Although I edited out some of the session where the audience was using remote control clickers to answer interactive food safety questions, the principle of interactive training is also explored.