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This information can be used to develop food safety and quality programs that meet the requirements of modern Regulatory, Customer and Industry Standards:
When considering the development, documentation and implementation of Social Responsibility Standards within food safety and quality management systems, the following information should be considered to ensure effective outcomes:
Social Responsibility Standards are applied across international food industries to ensure sourcing is facilitated in a responsible manner, to ensure suppliers continually improve their social and environmental practices and shield retailer and brand confidence.
Social Responsibility Standards are a general expectation of consumers who, over time, have become increasingly aware of purchasing goods and services that have been sourced in a manner that does not include exploitation of humans, wildlife or the environment, or in a manner that does not represent a danger to the health or safety or humans, wildlife or the environment.
In an effort to provide food items and general merchandise at competitive prices, retailers are continually forced to source items from a variety of international locations, including developing countries. Instances of exposed poor working conditions and environmental degradation within developing countries over time have seen retail businesses develop and implement targeted social responsibility requirements for their suppliers.
Common elements of Social Responsibility Standards implemented by progressive retail businesses include:
The basis of Social Responsibility Standards is commonly linked to recognized Ethical Trading and Labour Initiatives. These are often used to define the guidelines for the Social Responsibility Standards mandated by retail companies.
Corporate social responsibility is a term commonly used to define the objective commitment to accountability for any business operation in relation to their supply chains, business outputs and social impacts.
An example may be that: A senior company representative should be responsible for maintaining procedures for the selection of suppliers and subcontractors and determining their ability to meet the company’s Ethical Sourcing policies and the requirements of relevant Social Responsibility Standards.
Elements of Social Responsibility Standards commonly addressed as part of any food business’ corporate social responsibility may include:
No child labour is utilized. Minimum age of employment is in line with International Labour Organization recommendations.
Workers should be of an appropriate age, and must not be deprived of their childhood, their dignity or their potential. Child labour must not be facilitated where such labour would be harmful to their mental and physical development.
No forced labour is utilised. Bonded labour is prohibited. Identity papers are not required or bonded from employees to supplier.
Employment should be freely chosen, not bonded or involuntary. Workers should not be required to lodge money or possessions with their employer, and can leave employment with a reasonable period of notice.
Wages and benefits for workers for a standard working week should meet industry benchmarks or legal standards. Wages should be enough to meet basic needs and to provide some additional income. Workers should have access to the documented and understandable particulars of their income and terms for a standard working week. Deductions from wages should not be facilitated unless they are legal and acknowledged by the relevant employee.
A Wage Compliance Supplier will have a wage compliance program in place which ensures that employee wages, payment cycles, overtime policies all adhere to local regulation or ILO conventions.
The Supplier should have a provision for the following benefits:
Regarding terms of employment, the company should provide employees with documented terms of employment. The document should address at a minimum:
The company should not utilize excessive working hours more than 72 hours per week.
Working hours for a standard working week should meet industry benchmarks or legal standards. Under standard conditions and circumstances, workers should not be required to work more than an acceptable number of hours per week, and should be granted at least one day off, on average, per calendar week. Overtime should not be mandatory, and should be paid at an applicable suitable rate of pay.
Discrimination should not be facilitated in any manner, including through hiring, compensation, access to training, positional promotion, employment termination based on race or caste, nationality, religion, age, disability, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, union membership or political affiliation.
The company should facilitate Equal Opportunity in Hiring. They should not discriminate in their hiring of potential employees on the basis of age, race, gender, religion, ethnic origin, disability or other arbitrary or personal basis.
The company should facilitate Equal Opportunity in Employment: They should not discriminate against employees on the basis of age, race, gender, religion, ethnic origin, disability or other arbitrary or personal basis in regards to compensation, training, promotion, termination or retirement.
Disciplinary measures should not be facilitated in a manner that causes physical or mental harm. Records of all disciplinary actions must be recorded. Physical abuse, sexual abuse, harassment, verbal abuse and other forms of intimidation are not acceptable under any circumstances.
Workers should have the right to initiate or maintain union memberships of their own choice, and to participate in collective bargaining as required. Employers should facilitate open attitudes towards trade unions and their organizational activities. They should not interfere with, obstruct or prevent such legitimate and lawful activities. Employee representatives are supported by the business within their required duties within the workplace.
Accidents should be prevented through conscious applications of workplace health and safety requirements throughout the workplace environment. Relevant health and safety training should be conducted and recorded to ensure all employees are aware of applicable risks. Personal protective equipment should be provided and must be available as required. Responsibility for health and safety should be delegated to a member of Senior Management.
In terms of Occupational Health and Safety, the company should appoint a senior management representative responsible for employee occupational health and safety. The company should provide a safe working environment for employees by documenting an Occupational Health and Safety Plan which:
Suitably constructed, maintained, cleaned and sanitised working facilities, amenities and accommodation should be provided for all employees. Access to clean and sanitary toilet facilities and potable drinking water of suitable temperature should be provided. Where appropriate, suitably constructed and maintained facilities for eating and drinking, including food storage amenities should be provided. Where applicable, accommodation facilities should be suitably constructed and maintained to ensure the safety and basic needs of worker.
Only employees with a legal privilege to be employed should be used. Evidence of the legal status of all employees should be verified through relevant original documentation by the employer. Relationships with regulatory agencies should be nurtured by the employer to ensure ongoing positive outcomes. The supplier should ensure that all local and applicable regulations are in compliance, including that all monitoring is completed per regulatory requirements and; business licenses and permits are maintained and current.
Applicable local environmental regulations must be met on an ongoing basis. Waste and by-product disposals should be conducted in a manner which meets local environmental regulations and does not negatively impact upon the environment, wildlife or humans according to benchmark industry or international standards. Risk assessments should be conducted, documented, validated and verified to ensure environmental impacts are limited to acceptable levels. Requirements for the control of solid waste, liquid waste, air contaminants and chemical storage, usage and waste should be developed and implemented to ensure adequate control.
The supplier should develop Environmental Management Plans for priority impacts identified through the risk assessment. Environmental Management Plans must specify: management objectives and targets for priority impacts, local regulatory requirements for environmental management and tasks, time frames and responsibilities required to meet the nominated objectives and targets.
The Environmental Management Plan includes specific details on the following:
Equipment must be constructed and maintained in a manner that facilitates safe and hygienic working conditions for all employees. Equipment must be safeguarded in a manner that meets or exceeds local regulations.
All equipment used in the treatment, handling, monitoring and storage of air, waste, waste water, water, or other elements as identified within the Environmental Management Plan should be properly maintained, be included on a maintenance schedule, and have records maintained to verify maintenance activities.
Bribery and corruption should not be knowingly facilitated. The falsification of documents should not be knowingly facilitated. Food business Social Responsibility Standards requirements are most often linked to suppliers of retail stores, for which the sub-contractors or suppliers are also required to meet the nominated Social Responsibility Standards. No sub-contracted suppliers or service providers should be utilised without the written permission of the customer where an Ethical Sourcing Standard has been implemented.
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Social Responsibility Standards Development requirements in relation to their items.
Social Responsibility Standards Development Key Points
Document: A document provides guidance and/or direction for performing work, making decisions, or rendering judgments which affect the safety or quality of the products or services that customers receive.
Documented policies, procedures, work instructions and schedules form the basis of any food safety and quality management system. The following documentation formats may be considered to ensure ongoing compliance with specified requirements for Social Responsibility Standards:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Social Responsibility Standards Documentation requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Social Responsibility Standards Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Social Responsibility Standards documentation, record and resource formats commonly applied within food safety and quality systems.
Social Responsibility Standards Documentation Key Points
Implementation: Implementation is the application of documented food safety and quality system elements into the actual business operation.
The implementation of Social Responsibility Standards within any food business requires genuine commitment from senior management, staff and visitors to ensure the nominated goals of implementation are achievable on an ongoing basis. It is a step which requires significant planning and consideration of general and specific food business circumstances to ensure the outcomes of Social Responsibility Standards do not negatively impact upon the safety and quality of the food items dispatched from the business.
Implementation of Social Responsibility Standards must include the clear definition of responsibilities and authorities for all levels of participation by senior management, staff and visitors to the site.
When implementing Social Responsibility Standards within a food safety and quality system, you may wish to consider the following requirements prior to completion:
A Policy Manual outlining the policies the company should be documented and implemented. This should reference an Operational Manual detailing the means by which the company will implement the policies and the procedures established.
A senior company representative should be appointed to plan and oversee the implementation of the company policy and the requirements of this standard. A job description outlining the responsibility and authority of this position should be documented.
Appropriate training should be provided for new and existing personnel carrying out the tasks that are identified in the health and safety plan as well as compliance with the company environmental management system as necessary to maintain a safe working environment.
Social Responsibility Standards Training should cover:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Social Responsibility Standards Implementation requirements in relation to their items.
Social Responsibility Standards Implementation Key Points
Monitoring: Monitoring is the act of reviewing and confirming measurable parameters of a defined process or product status.
Monitoring requirements within food industry sectors are generally identified against limits of acceptability defined within HACCP plans, implementation procedures and work instructions. Monitoring usually includes some element of record keeping, which may be maintained manually or through digital systems. It is important to consider that advancements of technology have spawned many systems and processes which are self monitored and or self adjusted when variances are identified. Regardless of the system used; the goal of any monitoring activity is to provide sufficient evidence that any limit of acceptability has been met.
Traditional Social Responsibility Standards monitoring requirements include manual recording and the application of corrective actions when the results of monitoring are found to be outside acceptable limits. Corrective Actions should also generally be strongly linked to the monitoring process where applied to ensure full traceability of the applied actions.
Common monitoring activities and record formats may be applicable to Social Responsibility Standards:
In terms of ‘Monitoring’, the food businesses must establish and maintain programs to monitor and measure impacts identified as a priority for management. All equipment used for monitoring must be routinely calibrated to accuracy appropriate to its use. Equipment and calibration records must be maintained.
To facilitate ‘Management Reviews’ senior management shall document the company’s procedure for ensuring the continued effectiveness of its policy in relation to the Ethical Sourcing requirements. Reviews should be completed at least annually and should be the responsibility of senior management.
For example, in the ‘Evaluation of Suppliers and Subcontractors’, the company should document its procedure for evaluating the performance of suppliers and subcontractors against the specified requirements. A senior company representative should be responsible for evaluating, or monitoring the evaluation of suppliers and subcontractors.
Evaluations should occur:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Social Responsibility Standards Monitoring requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Social Responsibility Standards Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Social Responsibility Standards documentation, record and resource formats commonly applied within food safety and quality systems.
Social Responsibility Standards Monitoring Key Points
Corrective Action: Corrective action is mandatory action to be taken when a deviation to the Quality System occurs, particularly in relation to a Critical Control Point.
Preventative Action: At any step in the process where a hazard has been identified, preventative action must be put into place to prevent re-occurrence.
Corrective Action and Preventative Action is implemented to ensure that any identified non-conformance issues are documented, investigated and rectified within appropriate time-frames. Corrective action is any action applied to regain control over a product, process, policy or procedure that has been identified as being non-conforming or outside nominated limits of acceptability. Preventative action is any action applied to prevent any identified non-conformance from reoccurring.
The outcomes of corrective and preventative actions should result in regained process control after effective application. Specified corrective actions are commonly linked to the HACCP Plans and to the food business certification process.
Below are Corrective Action and Preventative Action examples which may be associated with Social Responsibility Standards related non-conformance:
In terms of ‘Incident Management’, the supplier should have an emergency response program to an environmental incident, including an emergency management team with current contacts, a communications plan for incidents, a current contact list of customers and stakeholders, procedures for the manage an emergency response, and at least annual testing of the emergency response program.
And following with ‘Corrective Action’, the company should document a procedure for identifying and documenting the cause and resolution of issues that arise as a result of accidents and incidents, internal reviews and concerns by employees or other parties. Appropriate effective action should be taken to resolve issues raised. This may include the investigation of employee concerns in that the concerns of company employees and other directly involved interested parties in respect to their working environment and conditions should be investigated by a senior company representative in a timely manner.
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Social Responsibility Standards Corrective Action requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Corrective Action and Preventative Action section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Social Responsibility Standards Corrective Action and Preventative Action Key Points
Verification: The act of reviewing, inspecting, testing, checking, auditing, or otherwise establishing and documenting whether items, processes, services, or documents conform to specified requirements.
Verification is the detailed review of all food safety and quality system elements to confirm that they are effectively developed, documented, implemented, monitored and reviewed. It is important that all food safety and quality system elements, including documented policies, procedures, training, HACCP plans and their operational applications are verified on an ongoing scheduled basis. The verification process commonly includes a defined schedule for which verification activities are required, how often they are conducted, who is responsible and detailed documented procedures for each nominated verification activity.
The general goal of an established verification process is to ensure any systemic non-conformance issues are identified and rectified within an appropriate time-frame. When non-conformance issues are identified through the verification process, Corrective Actions and Preventative Actions should be implemented to ensure they do not impact upon the effectiveness of the food safety and quality system.
The following examples of verification activities may be applicable to Social Responsibility Standards:
For ‘Internal Audits’, the company should schedule, carry out and document regular internal audits to confirm the effectiveness of its implementation. Results of audits should be bought to the attention of senior management and those responsible for the area being audited, who should be responsible to ensure that actions are taken in a timely manner to correct all nonconformances identified.
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Social Responsibility Standards Verification requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Verification Activities section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Social Responsibility Standards Verification Key Points
Validation: The process of gathering evidence to provide a scientific basis for the documented act of demonstrating that a procedure, process and activity will consistently lead to the expected results. It often includes the qualification of systems and equipment.
Validation is the provision of evidence to support the limits of control or acceptability for food safety or quality parameters nominated within systemic elements. Limits of control or acceptability are commonly included within documented food safety and quality system elements such as procedures, HACCP plans and specifications.
Common sources of validation include regulatory and legislative standards, finished product specifications and customer requirements, industry codes of practice and guidelines, verified and validated research, historical product and process control outcomes and analytical testing.
The general goal of an established validation process is to ensure any systemic non-conformance issues are identified and rectified within an appropriate time-frame. When non-conformance issues are identified through the verification process, Corrective Actions and Preventative Actions should be implemented to ensure they do not impact upon the effectiveness of the food safety and quality system.
Validation activities are commonly defined within the verification schedules and procedures of established food safety and quality management systems.
The following examples may be applicable to validation of the limits of control or acceptability for Social Responsibility Standards:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Social Responsibility Standards Validation requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Validation Activities section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Social Responsibility Standards Validation Key Points
Skills and Knowledge: Skills and knowledge are attributes of human interactions commonly linked to competency within any specified job related task.
Training and competency requirements for Social Responsibility Standards must be ongoing, including regular scheduled reviews to ensure the effectiveness of training and competency outcomes.
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Social Responsibility Standards should have knowledge including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Social Responsibility Standards should have skills including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Social Responsibility Standards should have access to resources including:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Social Responsibility Standards Training, Competency and Resources requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Training, Competency and Resources section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Social Responsibility Standards Training, Skills and Knowledge Key Points
haccp.com was created to support food businesses and food industry professionals in achieving and maintaining the stringent requirements of food industry compliance.