Food safety culture has been the industry’s favorite buzzword for years, but what does it actually look like once you’re standing on the production floor? 

Food safety writer and consultant Azure Edwards joins Francine and Matt to talk about the real gap between the policies companies write down and the decisions people make when the pressure is on to get product out the door. This episode covers training, data feedback loops, and where AI genuinely helps versus where it falls short. 

Spoiler alert: the industry’s problem was never a lack of data. It’s turning that data into something the floor and the C-suite can actually act on.

In this episode:

💩 00:00:00 Introducing Food Safety Consultant Azure Edwards

💩 00:05:07 The Gap Between Training Requirements and Production Floor

💩 00:06:31 Food Safety as a Business Structure

💩 00:09:07 Building Actionable Modules for Food Safety Culture

💩 00:10:44 Food Safety Data Feedback Loops

💩 00:15:29 Why Floor-Level Reality Gets Diluted Before It Reaches Leadership

💩 00:21:16 Getting Food Safety Into Decisions Earlier

💩 00:28:15 Azure’s Career Across Produce, Beef, Seafood, and Lab Testing

💩 00:35:18 Where AI Actually Helps in Food Safety

Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.

Resources from this episode

Connect with Azure Edwards on LinkedIn and on her website (Pacific Blue Horizon Group). 

Azure’s Food Safety Tech Articles: https://foodsafetytech.com/?s=Azure+Edwards 

Azure’s Food Safety News Articles: 

• The food industry’s training problem is the system it keeps paying for
• Food safety and the Campbell Soup Company

Episode discussing Azure’s article: The Failures of the Food Industry’s Pizza and Stick Approach to Food Safety | Episode 154

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“ When people are in a situation where they have to make a decision, it’s gonna be the one that’s gonna give them the result that they need, and oftentimes that’s just getting it out the door and keeping their job.” – Azure Edwards

Connect with Francine, Matt, and the “Don’t Eat Poop!” show on LinkedIn! 

Check out Francine’s book Who Watches the Kitchen? on Amazon!