MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO – Maple Leaf Foods Inc. recently held its 12th Food Safety Symposium to share food safety information and collaboration in the industry.

The meat producer partnered with the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) Protein PACT in co-hosting the event. 

The keynote speaker for the symposium was Stephen M.R. Covey, author and co-founder of CoveyLink and FranklinCovey Global Trust Practice. 

In his remarks, Covey called trust “the currency of our time.” He also shared the elements and values of high-trust organizations and cited studies showing the connection between trust and high performance.

“Speed happens when people trust each other and nothing is as fast as the speed of trust,” Covey said. “Today’s leaders are expected to lead change with agility and to develop high-performing teams,” said Covey. “It is trust that turns a group into a team. Trust is the ultimate collaboration tool and the linchpin of a collaborative partnership.”

Additionally, the symposium included a panel of leading food safety experts that shared insights about what can be learned from a non-competitive approach to food safety with the creation of Listeria control best practices and how those efforts can create value and trust for stakeholders. 

“The non-competitive nature of the event — processors teaching processors … it creates a tremendous learning environment,” said Jeremiah Johnson, corporate manager of regulatory compliance, food safety and sanitation at Hormel Foods. “It’s about impacting public health and us saying we can come together to minimize the impact of Salmonella in products. And we’re starting to do these things right now with NAMI’s support.”

A second panel examined the importance of food safety audits for transparency and continuous improvement. Panelists agreed that how a company responds to a finding during an audit is more important than the audit itself. 

Panelists also noted that results from audits could bolster food safety if these findings are viewed with continuous improvement in mind.  

“We want to avoid situations where looking good replaces being good,” said David Rasmussen, director of quality at The Kraft Heinz Co.

In the closing panel, Randy Huffman, PhD, chief food safety and sustainability officer at Maple Leaf Foods; Julie Anna Potts, president and chief executive officer of NAMI; Jim Snee, CEO of Hormel Foods, and Michael McCain, executive chair of the board and CEO of Maple Leaf Foods, discussed the Protein PACT, its ambitious visions and targets for 2030 and the increasing demand among consumers for transparency.

“We often hear ‘big food is bad.’ We want to be GOOD big food,” McCain said. “Transparency is a central and defining attribute of who we are. It’s one of the secret sauces to trust-building.”