Empowering Individuals to Adapt Food Safety Practices

Paul Berry, Senior Food Safety Manager , Subway

Paul Berry is currently the Senior Food Safety Manager at Subway. He has extensive experience managing food safety at various outlets and supply chains all over ANZ and APAC for over 35 years. Paul has also completed Agriculture and significant time in High Care FMCG being responsible for the Technical, Quality Assurance and Food Safety functions.

Paul joined the Subway team in 2019 as the Food Safety Manager for Australia/ New Zealand.  In this role Paul leads the design, development, implementation, validation, verification of equipment and standards for all facilities and food groups. Paul is also responsible for the vendor management and supplier assurance and approval programs.

In 2021, Paul took on the responsibility as the Senior Food Safety Manager for APAC has been supporting the Asia Pacific Market in all aspects of Food safety, Vendor qualification and Quality management, Vendor audit programs, and Product complaint analysis.

Share the experience you have gathered in the industry and the daily roles and responsibilities.

I have been successful in gaining extensive experience in managing food safety virtually over numerous outlets and supply chains throughout the Asia-Pacific region. All through my journey, I have built effective outcomes that have led to a strong reputation for performance and respect in the field, along with recognition from local government sectors.

What are the primary challenges you see in the food and beverage sector?

One of the current challenges that I have encountered in the industry is the lack of knowledge about the broad spectrum of food safety. People are unfamiliar about the technicalities and the understanding of the quality leadership aspect. Mostly during the pandemic, we have experienced the drift where people were unaware of the current trends or the physical changes in the sector. Instead, people were in a reactive situation, struggling to manage systems and processes. People were anxious and tense during the outbreak to see the business adversities. This is where they failed to understand a product comprehensively.

My professional background encompasses various stages from paddock to plate, where I have developed an efficient skillset from visiting FMCG manufacturing to delivering vendor management and supplier assurance programs. This helped me understand everything about the processes, effectively deal with products, and ensure food safety. Therefore, I believe education in the food sector is lacking today, as new technicians lack experience and are unfamiliar about food safety practices.

What trends have been developed to mitigate the potential challenges and bring more rigorous safety to increase the knowledge among the people working in the industry?

The fundamental trend in mitigating the challenge is to educate employees and staff in managing products and dealing with the processes effectively. At the end of the day, no one is concerned about your promotion to the top position unless you are bothered about developing skills among the staff at the bottom level to manage food production. One of the instances where I empowered people was when I was working in the retail sector; I educated the production and store management team in understanding products and their functions. For instance, I have provided training to individuals in managing the product's shelf life. I showed them the difference between a properly managed product and a product that malfunctioned at the early stage, highlighting the importance of temperature control in sustaining shelf life. I term these experiences as light bulb moments that helped individuals to understand the processes cohesively and comprehensively.

Every individual is different, and so is their learning style, so we need to adopt different approaches tailored to their levels of understanding. Therefore, open communication needs to be emphasized where individuals are interested in asking questions, ensuring that no questions are silly so they don’t feel hesitant while communicating. This is how a culture of learning and understanding will be promoted. 

What would be a piece of advice to your fellow peers and upcoming professionals in the industry?

I suggest my peers and aspiring professionals take a holistic approach to understanding product flow and its intended use while adapting food safety practices. Every step, from sourcing to delivery, needs to be emphasized to ensure product integrity and safety. For example, when we adjust the pH of any product, it can be adjusted to becomes self-stable, and there is no need to refrigerate it, which reduces costs.

It is important to constantly monitor and document observations of the food safety procedure, especially in the initial stages of learning, to be empowered at every point. Usually, individuals in long-term positions fail to identify issues due to familiarity. Therefore, continuous vigilance and embracing food safety practices will help individuals perceive issues initially and prevent malfunctions and product deterioration.