How I can support your business

I bring real world experience from diverse food and beverage sectors, tackling issues head-on alongside key stakeholders to achieve desired outcomes.  I offer a range of specialised services tailored to meet your individual needs.  My approach is focused on understanding and responding to what you require and providing effective, practical solutions.

 

 

 

 

 

Consulting and compliance

Keeping up with complex and constantly evolving global food safety regulations requires specialist knowledge and practical experience.   As a company, Food Safety and Culture provides the guidance and clarity needed to ensure your operation not only meets required standards but does so with confidence and efficiency.

What I can offer:

  • GAP Analysis – benchmarking your systems against GFSI (BRCGS, FSSC 22000, SQF), and relevant regulatory standards (Food Act 2014, Animal Products Act 1999) to clearly identify strengths and areas for improvement.
  • Compliance Roadmap – a practical, prioritised action plan designed to address risks efficiently, aligned to meet both your operational and budget needs.
  • Food Safety Programme Development – creation, review, and implementation support for National Programmes, Food Control Plans, and Risk Management Programmes, ensuring they are practical for your team and compliant with New Zealand regulatory requirements.
  • Audit Preparation – support with internal audits, customer audit readiness, and supplier audits to ensure you feel prepared and confident.
  • Ongoing Partnership – continued support to help you navigate compliance updates, regulatory changes, and operational adjustments as your business evolves.

If you require additional food safety advice or tailored support, I’m always happy to work with you to find the right solution.

 

Staff training and development

Your food safety program is only as strong as the people executing it every single day. The most sophisticated HACCP plan, the most thorough sanitation protocol, and the most advanced equipment mean nothing if your team do not understand their roles, responsibilities and the "why" behind every procedure. 

Investing in training is an investment in your people, your compliance outcomes and your brand reputation. It also plays a vital role in building confidence, accountability and engagement across your team.

What I can offer:

I develop practical, ready-to-use training packages designed to support your internal training programmes. Each package includes:

  • Engaging PowerPoint presentations
  • Supporting Word documents
  • Competency questions and answer guides

Training packages are available at different levels to suit your audience:

  • Comprehensive – in-depth coverage for leadership or technical teams
  • Baseline – clear, practical foundations for operational staff
  • Combined options – tailored to suit mixed audiences

The following packages are available with minimal customisation to suit your business:

  • Allergen Management
  • Pest Management
  • Cleaning and Sanitation Principles
  • Personal Hygiene and Protective Clothing in Food Manufacturing
  • HACCP Training

If you have specific food safety training needs beyond these topics, I’m also happy to develop fully customised training tailored to your operation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HACCP plan development

The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system is internationally recognised as a structured and effective approach to managing food safety risks. When thoughtfully developed and properly implemented, a HACCP plan provides a science-based framework for identifying, assessing, and controlling biological, chemical, and physical hazards before they impact consumers or your business.

Creating a HACCP plan that is both compliant and practical involves far more than completing a template. It requires a clear understanding of your products and processes, careful hazard analysis, well-justified critical limits based on current scientific guidance, and evidence that your controls are validated and effective. Many businesses have HACCP plans documented, but not all are robust enough to withstand regulatory review or prevent a genuine food safety incident.

What I can offer:

  • Support with HACCP plan development, including the provision of practical, user-friendly templates

  • Guidance in developing prerequisite programmes that form the essential foundation of an effective HACCP system

  • A thorough review of your existing HACCP plan, supported by a structured review template

  • Assistance with organising and facilitating regular HACCP meetings, including provision of meeting templates

My comprehensive, hands-on approach ensures your food safety system is built on solid foundations. The result is a HACCP programme that not only meets regulatory expectations but also delivers meaningful protection for your customers and your brand.

Food safety coaching

Food safety coaching is a practical, hands-on approach to strengthening your team’s knowledge, confidence, and day-to-day execution of food safety systems.  Unlike traditional classroom training, coaching focuses on guidance within your operation, turning procedures on paper into consistent behaviours on the floor.

What I can offer:

1. On the Floor Support

Working alongside supervisors and operators to:

  • Reinforce correct practices in real time

  • Clarify the “why” behind procedures

  • Identify small gaps before they become larger risks

This helps build confidence and accountability where it matters most, at the point of production.

2. Building Practical Understanding

  • Breaking down HACCP and prerequisite programmes into simple, relatable concepts

  • Helping teams understand critical limits, monitoring, and corrective actions

  • Strengthening decision making when something doesn’t go to plan

The goal is genuine understanding, not just box ticking.

3. Developing Leaders and Food Safety Champions

  • Coaching supervisors and managers to confidently lead food safety discussions

  • Supporting effective HACCP meetings

  • Encouraging proactive risk identification

Strong leadership is essential to building a sustainable food safety culture.

4. Strengthening Systems and Behaviours

  • Reviewing documentation and monitoring records together

  • Improving investigation and root cause analysis skills

  • Embedding habits that support compliance and audit readiness

5. Continuous Improvement Focus

Coaching isn’t about fault-finding, it’s about growth.  It supports teams to:

  • Take ownership of standards

  • Feel comfortable asking questions

  • Move from reactive compliance to proactive prevention

In essence, food safety coaching bridges the gap between written systems and daily practice.  It empowers your team to understand their role in protecting consumers and your brand, building a stronger, more confident food safety culture over time.

Equipment validation

Equipment validation is the documented process of demonstrating, using sound scientific evidence, that a piece of food processing equipment consistently operates within the parameters required to achieve its intended food safety outcome.  Validation is different from calibration or routine verification; it answers the fundamental question: Can this equipment reliably do what we say it does, under actual operating conditions?

Validations should be completed:

  • When new equipment is installed or commissioned

  • Following significant process or product changes

  • After major repairs or modifications

  • In response to a food safety incident or near miss

  • As part of a scheduled revalidation programme

What I can offer:

  • Practical support in understanding the food safety function of your equipment, including insights from past industry experience and known risk areas

  • Clear guidance on how to conduct effective validations, including provision of structured validation templates

  • Full validation studies, including development of protocols and preparation of a completed validation report ready for review by an approved verifier

  • Development of ongoing verification procedures and revalidation schedules to maintain the validated state throughout the equipment’s lifecycle

Well structured validation reports, including documented protocols, raw data, appropriate statistical analysis, and clear conclusions, provide confidence not only to regulators and customers, but also to your internal team.  A thorough validation process ensures your equipment continues to protect your product, your consumers and your brand long after the initial study is complete.

Cleaning validation

Cleaning validation provides documented scientific evidence that your cleaning and sanitation procedures consistently remove food residues, allergens and microbial contamination from food contact surfaces and equipment to levels suitable for safe food production.  It is a fundamental component of any strong and credible food safety programme.

In many facilities, cleaning procedures have evolved from historical practices or supplier guidance but have not been formally validated under the specific conditions of the site, including product types, equipment design, chemical concentrations, temperatures and contact times.  The gap between assumed cleanliness and proven cleanliness is where contamination risks can arise.

What I can offer:

  • Clear, practical guidance on how to conduct effective cleaning validations, including structured validation templates

  • Advice on appropriate tools and testing methods to generate sound scientific evidence

  • A detailed review of your existing cleaning procedures, chemical systems, equipment complexity and product portfolio.  With particular focus on allergen containing products, which require the highest level of validation rigour

  • Statistical analysis of results to demonstrate consistent performance across cleaning cycles, equipment zones and operators because a procedure must work reliably for every team member on every shift

  • Full validation studies of your current cleaning processes to provide comprehensive, defensible evidence of effectiveness

A robust cleaning validation programme demonstrates not only that soils, allergens and microorganisms are effectively removed, but also risks such as biofilm build-up are properly controlled.  Biofilms can develop in hard-to-reach areas and, if left inadequately controlled, become a persistent source of contamination.  Validating parameters such as time, temperature, chemical concentration and mechanical action helps confirm your cleaning systems are strong enough to prevent biofilm formation and maintain hygienic standards.

Ultimately, comprehensive cleaning validation protects product integrity, safeguards consumers and reinforces trust in your brand long after the initial validation study is complete.