Food Safety Culture and Educational Interventions in Food SMEs: A Structured NarrativeReview and Public Health Implications
Keywords:
food safety, food safety culture, public health, health education, small and medium-sized enterprises, food handlingAbstract
Background: Foodborne diseases remain an important public health concern. In food-related SMEs, training does not always produce sustained behavioral change because of resource constraints, operational pressures, leadership, and organizational conditions.
Objective: To synthesize evidence on food safety culture and educational interventions in SMEs and food service establishments, identifying organizational components, training outcomes, barriers, facilitators, and relevant public health gaps.
Methods: A structured narrative review with a thematic mapping approach was conducted. Literature published through August 25, 2026 was searched, prioritizing PubMed/MEDLINE and complemented by indexed scientific literature, documents from international organizations, and reference tracking. Using the PCC framework, sources addressing food safety culture, training, leadership, resources, hygienic practices, and management systems were selected.
Results: The evidence was grouped into five domains: leadership and managerial commitment; resource availability; staff engagement and behavior; education and training; and barriers or facilitators to implementation. Recent literature supports practical, repeated, and context-specific training, together with brief digital programs, monitoring, and leadership.
Conclusions: Training alone is insufficient to sustain behavioral change. Interventions in SMEs should combine continuing education with leadership, resources, communication, supervision, and assessment. Evidence from Latin America and Ecuador supports contextualized, scalable strategies linked to concrete microbiological risks.
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Data Availability Statement
The extraction matrix and search strategies used are available upon request from the authors, in accordance with AHRIE’s editorial policy.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Juan Francisco Díaz Pérez (Autor/a)
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