Our Approach to Food Safety
Food safety is one of the most critical and fundamental components of our business at Restaurant Brands International and we are committed to maintaining rigorous science-based food safety standards.
Food safety is a collaborative effort beginning with where we source materials and continuing right through to when the product is served to our guests. This process begins with robust supplier quality assurance programs that ensure preventative safety controls are in place. We require our suppliers to maintain Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) certifications. Those not yet certified remain subject to our comprehensive internal audits and evaluations. For produce items, we also mandate Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification. Our food safety system is grounded in Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) principles throughout the supply chain. In addition, we routinely conduct supplier audits to ensure any food safety risk is managed. An integral part of our supply chain for frozen and refrigerated items involves maintaining the cold chain through transportation and distribution and ensuring product traceability is in place.
As part of our commitment to prepare safe food at all restaurants worldwide, any new menu items approved to enter our restaurants are reviewed and assessed for compliance by food safety and quality assurance professionals across our organization. This collaborative process involves multiple checkpoints and culminates in an independent review by our global food safety team. Restaurant procedures and best practices for restaurant owners are developed to meet or exceed local food safety and regulatory requirements and maintain the safety of guests and team members. Burger King, Popeyes, Tim Hortons and Firehouse Subs restaurants worldwide are subject to rigorous, independent, food safety third-party inspections on a regular schedule to ensure compliance with food safety standards.
To achieve the quality and food safety standards we are committed to we focus on education and training at the restaurant and corporate levels, as well as evaluation and monitoring of our suppliers and restaurants.
Education & Training
Suppliers
Suppliers to RBI restaurants are an integral part of our food chain in ensuring safe food is provided to our guests. A major component of education and training for our approved suppliers focuses on communicating RBI’s food safety policies and standards.
Our Food Safety team monitors industry best practices which inform updates to our food safety guidelines. Examples include our Listeria Control Guidelines, and our Low Moisture Food Guidelines for ready-to-eat foods.
We have routine calibration sessions with our suppliers, globally, which we use as an opportunity to update and train them on our guidelines, in addition to what they would receive as part of the onboarding process. When a finding or corrective action is identified in our third-party supplier audits, our Food Safety team is readily available to serve as a source and provide training on our requirements and guidelines. Working collaboratively with our suppliers ensures that food safety is a top priority.
Restaurants
A fundamental component of food safety for RBI is education and training for our restaurant staff on how to safely prepare and serve food. To ensure restaurants practice safe food handling procedures and are providing our guests with safe food, we focus heavily on equipping our restaurant staff with the right knowledge and tools, delivered in a manner that is simple and easy to understand.
Training includes modules on food safety, covering topics such as safe food handling and allergens. All team members are trained on food safety during their first weeks of work at the restaurant. In addition to these RBI internal food safety training materials, all restaurant managers are required to be food handler certified.
Corporate
Food safety does not end with our suppliers and restaurants. RBI is committed to training our corporate teams, including our internal Food Safety and QA teams. This entails:
- Conducting regular trainings for our internal teams on RBI’s food safety policies and standards
- Annual training and calibration sessions for our Food Safety and QA teams
- Monthly presentations to update relevant teams on standards, changes and food safety news
- The Food Safety Team attends monthly webinars to be able to monitor emerging food safety trends and manage risks proactively
All RBI QA team members are certified in HACCP, a food safety risk management approach.
Evaluation & Monitoring
RBI considers the evaluation of our food, suppliers, distribution centers and restaurants as critical to provide our guests across the globe with safe, high-quality and great-tasting food.
Food Evaluation
During the product approval stage, performance of the product during the cooking process is evaluated with a statistical model to ensure all our products are cooked according to a consistent procedure. Once approved, products are subject to routine testing and quality controls to avoid deviations, in accordance with a Quality Assurance Plan tailored to each product's risk level.
This testing is performed independently by contracted third-party vendors, in most cases, in laboratories embedded in our Restaurant Services Centers around the world.
Supplier Evaluation
We believe that our suppliers are an especially important pillar of our food safety system, thus, we foster a collaborative relationship with them — we schedule visits and provide guidance to build a strong and reliable RBI supply chain. We require our suppliers to maintain Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) certifications. Those not yet certified remain subject to our comprehensive internal audits and evaluations. For produce items, we also mandate Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification.
In regions where GAP standards are not a customary practice, we work with suppliers to ensure they meet standards that are substantially similar to this certification. We also monitor that suppliers always have a valid GFSI certificate uploaded in our system.
In additional to the certifications mentioned above, our approved suppliers and distribution centers are required to pass a supplier compliance audit, at minimum once per year. We receive, monitor and analyze results of these audits to ensure that corrective actions are implemented within an appropriate time frame for any detected non-compliance. The audit confirms that quality systems are in place for RBI products, that suppliers can produce within specification parameters, that deviations are properly managed, and that final products meet RBI requirements.
Suppliers are graded on a Supplier Quality Performance Scorecard. We update this scorecard monthly and use it to continuously improve food safety and quality standards at our suppliers and to confirm compliance with all RBI QA requirements.
Restaurant Evaluation
Restaurants are the most important link of the chain before our food is served to our guests and we have stringent controls at this stage as well.
We work with third-party expert auditing companies to perform unannounced restaurant visits against an audit designed by RBI, which includes strict food safety evaluations. The data obtained is used to update the audit checklist twice per year to capture evolving challenges and adapt to new situations in every region.
Food Safety Governance
RBI understands the importance of a strong and independent Food Safety team-one that is empowered to raise any potential food safety concerns and to require mitigation measures before approving any potentially unsafe product. All Food Safety responsibilities at RBI are centralized, globally across all brands, under the Vice-President of Global Quality Assurance, who has an experienced global team exclusively dedicated to food safety, led by the Senior Director of Food Safety.
The company CEO and his Leadership Team are regularly updated on food safety trends, risks and mitigation strategies, and the Board of directors oversees the Food Safety function through an annual internal audit.
Sharing Food Safety
We are proud of our strong food safety activities at RBI and strongly believe that food safety initiatives serve a greater good to society. As such, we regularly share our initiatives and best practices with other companies in the Quick Service Restaurant industry and take the opportunity to learn from their best practices as well. We are active members, and sponsors of many organizations dedicated to improving and expanding food safety, such as the International Association for Food Protection, the Conference for Food Protection, the Global Food Safety Initiative, where we are members of the Steering Committee, and the Center for Food Safety. We regularly present at industry conferences and actively participate in food safety networks and forums. We are always open to share food safety knowledge.
We are also participants in specific industry organizations dedicated to enhancing food safety, such as United Fresh (now International Fresh Produce Association), Beef Industry Food Safety Council, National Chicken Council, and Baking Association of Canada.
Because of our size and our global reach, we recognize that our food safety initiatives can have a positive ripple effect in the broader food industry. For example, requiring our suppliers to be GFSI certified helped bring more than 3,000 suppliers from all over the world in line with that standard.
Additionally, in 2015 when we initiated the requirement that our lettuce and tomatoes be sourced only from farms audited against Good Agricultural Practices, we brought more than 4,000 into compliance with that food safety standard -making produce safer for all their clients, not just our gests.
We are obsessive about food safety – a passion that motivates and guides everything we do.
“There is nothing more important for us than ensuring the Food Safety of our products and our restaurants.”
Diego Beamonte
Vice-President Global Quality Assurance, Restaurant Brands International