So what does food safety actually mean?

As a Food Safety Coach and the Chair of the Food Safety Information Council Ltd, I have at least two slightly different interpretations of what food safety actually means. This is because the target of my discussions and involvement is different in both situations, depending upon whom I am talking with..
For the consumers, who are the focus of the Food Safety Information Council Ltd, it is about not getting sick or making anyone in their family getting sick from food they have cooked / prepared.
For food business, who are my clients, it is about following the law and ensuring that their products are not likely to make anyone sick.
Even in a food business food safety is going to have a different meaning, depending upon what role a person has in that business. To the accountant it is about the money that is spent to protect the business, to the Quality Manager, it is about making sure that there is compliance with all audits and no problems, and to the worker on the floor, it is about doing the temperature checks etc.
For community groups, which I often help, it is about doing things the right and simplest way to stop anyone getting sick from any food they make.
The fundamental belief is that food safety is essentially about having food that will not make people sick. On this everyone would overwhelmingly agree, but the difference in definition comes down to who is involved.
The other problem with the term “Food Safety” is that it is just boring. Food Poisoning evokes an emotional response because nearly every one of us has experienced the “joys” of that experience. We as industry professionals know that it is food safety that determines if food poisoning will happen, but this is not a natural link for consumers.
We also have to remember that a food will only be safe if all those influencing it are doing what has to be done; the legislators, the industry and the consumer. Each of these has different needs, understanding and expectations when it comes to food safety.
When we, as food industry professionals, are talking about food safety, we absolutely must put it in ways that work for the group / person to whom we are talking, or it will just bore them even more or even fly right over their head as they think about what is on TV that night.