It’s no surprise that in response to the pandemic, many operations implemented new food safety and occupational safety protocols. But, in their pandemic planning, did they negatively impact food safety by forgetting to review existing pre-requisite programs?

Industrial Packaging, a leading packaging company in the food and beverage supply chain based in Webster, Massachusetts, has become the first company in the U.S. to achieve Pandemic Prepared Certification. Their certification provides assurance for their customers that they are committed to establishing and maintaining industry-recognized best practices for supporting food safety, employee health and business continuity.

With COVID-19 rapidly advancing around the globe, suddenly, the food and beverage supply chain had to redefine what business continuity meant and how to navigate what had now become a pandemic. Among the many issues companies were dealing with at the time, most were sent scrambling to gather information and the supplies needed to respond to the pressing threat.

Ask yourself this: before this year, did your Business Continuity Plan include workforce health measures related to pandemic preparedness? If you were like most operations, COVID-19 caught you off guard and you’ve spent the year trying to address its many pitfalls.

Almarai Company, a leading food and beverage company and the world’s largest vertically integrated dairy operation, has become the first company in the world to achieve Pandemic Prepared Certification. This proactive measure is testimony to how their operation prepares for the future with this best-in-class protocol benchmark. Even during the ongoing pandemic, Certification provides assurance to their employees, supply chain and consumers that they are committed to establishing and maintaining best practices.

Everyone recognizes that it’s better to plan for the worst than to make it up as you go in the middle of a crisis.

You’ll be surprised at what even the best food and beverage companies are missing from their pandemic preparedness plans. We were.

It's no surprise that in the midst of the pandemic, employee complaints are on the rise. Data from the Department of Labor shows that in April, May and June of this year, they were seeing an average of more than 20 whistleblower complaints per day related to COVID-19. We can assume that because these complaints are COVID-related, many of them were spurred by situations where employees felt unsafe in their job duties. Maybe they were without proper PPE or knew of an employee who was at work while running a fever, or believed that worker safety protocols were being compromised due to increased product demand or a workforce shortage.

It’s only been a month since the launch of our Pandemic Prepared Certification, but there has already been a strong, positive response from top companies across the global food and beverage supply chain. This level of interest is undoubtedly an indication of the need for proactive measures that help establish best-in-class planning and protocols, while also decreasing risk as it relates to the pandemic.

Recent facility shutdowns due to COVID-19 cases and the resulting supply chain disruption has shown the food industry that being prepared for pandemics is increasingly vital to business resiliency. While COVID-19 is certainly the most impactful, it is the third pandemic in 18 years, the others being SARS and H1N1. This history makes it clear these types of diseases and the resulting impacts aren’t going away, so being prepared for them is essential.