Food safety KPIs and continuous improvement: keep it simple
Which food safety KPIs to track, how small businesses can use data without drowning in it, and tracking continuous improvement.
Data is only valuable if it leads to decisions. Our trainers share what works in practice.
Q: Which food safety KPIs should we track?
Common, easy-to-understand measures include:
- internal audit results
- number of non-conformities
- customer complaints
- staff training completion
- environmental monitoring results, and whether corrective actions are closed and stay closed
Review them monthly in team meetings to spot trends. Simple Excel logs work well. BRCGS Food Safety Issue 9 also asks senior management to set objectives and review progress against them (section 1.1).
Q: We're a small team. Is it worth the effort?
Be honest about the time it takes. In a very small business the picture is often clear without lots of data, and collating numbers nobody uses can be counter-productive. As a business grows, data becomes essential to ‘see the wood for the trees’. Data only adds value when it is analysed to draw conclusions. BRCGS standards also require data to be collated and analysed for its impact on product safety and quality.
If you pick one, customer complaint analysis is simple, meets BRCGS requirements and can be set as a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) objective that can be continuously improved. Too much data that can’t be converted into meaningful information can make staff blind to what matters. Sometimes less is more.
Q: How do we build a culture of continuous improvement?
Encourage open communication and ideas, celebrate small wins, keep training going, make everyone accountable for food safety, use data to show what's working, and lead by example.
▶ Watch: Continuously improving culture (STC & QTC Explains)
Q: How do we track staff CPD and development?
There are options for every budget. A simple spreadsheet with monthly reminders is not to be underestimated. Whatever you use, it only works if it's updated regularly. A lot of CPD goes unrecorded because people don't count routine reading and learning.
More short videos on our STC & QTC Explains channel: https://youtube.com/@stcandqtc
Reviewed by Chisala Ngandwe, Technical Manager & Trainer, STC · November 2026
These Q&As share general best practice from our trainers and auditors. They aren't consultancy advice for your site. For support specific to your site and systems, we can refer you to our sister company QTC.
Learn more: our Lean Six Sigma Green Belt course covers using data to improve, and Root Cause Analysis helps make improvements stick. See the course calendar.