Food Quality Management
Chapter 1 Introduction to food quality management
1.1 Food quality management
Quality attracts much attention in agribusiness and the food industry duet o raised consumer concerns
and the increased demands of stakeholders (government, interested parties and retailers.
1.1.1 Quality in the agri-food chain
Agricultural products refer to initial products in the chain, raw materials and ingredients, but also
flowers. Food products concern fresh produce, animal products, and manufactured food, which can be
consumed immediately or after processing at home.
Agriculture and food products:
- Are living systems
- Usually have a restricted shelf life
- Are harvested seasonally
- Are often heterogeneous
- Have a high variability (10% is common)
- And may contain hidden risks
Agri-food production is characterized by:
- Complex production chains
- Complex networks with many suppliers and customers
- Unintentional and unwanted by-products
- High turn-over volumes
- Low-value products
- Substantial environmental impact
- Major public interest of organisations in all links to the chain (such as health and safety concerns)
Importance of quality has increased due to various concerns and changes in the last few decades. This
because of different food crises. Food Law has changed. Moreover, changes in society have stimulated
agribusiness and the food industry to pay more attention to quality (demographic situations (cultures),
social situations (higher income), consumption behavior and lifestyle (eating outside), and globalisation.
Changes in food and feed processing techniques offer new opportunities to comply with increased
quality requirements.
1.1.2 Complexity food quality management
Food Quality (FQ) and quality management (QM) are the two basic components of food quality
management.
Nine system levels of Boulding:
1. Frame-work system: a static structure. These systems are also described as skeleton systems.
(stone)
, 2. Clockwork system: clock-work system: a system with predetermined motion. The time factor has
been added, resulting in simple dynamic systems. (clock)
3. Cybernetic system: closed-loop control. At this level feedback information ensures that one or
more variables are kept at a constant level. (thermostat)
4. Open system: Structurally self-maintaining, self-production. Here, life starts with self-
maintenance and self-reproduction. At this level total information is passed through the living
system. (biological cells)
5. Lower organism system: Differentiation in organs, predetermined growth, reproduction. At this
level the systems are able to group cells to organs with predetermined final forms and functions.
(plants)
6. Animal system: Consciousness, information collection, brain-guided behaviour. The animal
system has an extra ability to the plant system which is the capacity to process and store
information. Special organs for information retrieval are formed (eye, ear). Consciousness arises
in the form of images, knowledge structure and an overview of the environment as a whole.
(animals)
7. Human system: Self-reflection, knowledge, anticipation, and symbolic language. At this level self-
reflection is added. Human beings not only know, but they know that they know. This ability is
connected with the ability to form a language and to symbolize. Human beings are also aware of
tie and are thus able to anticipate. (human being)
8. Social system: Relationships, interests, communication, culture. Humans are only human in a
social situation, where they play different roles. The social organization has it own variables
(values, norms, goals, social relationships and different interests). Culture arises within social
organisations. (organisations)
9. Transcendental system: non-material systems. Finally, there are non-material systems of logic,
axioms and belief, including questions which cannot be answered for lack of information. (the
idea of divinity)
The high the system the more complex. Food Quality belong to the levels 4-6, the people involved in
food production can be typified as high system levels 7-8.
Food Quality Management is full of ambiguity and uncertainty. Ambiguity: no clear interpretation of
phenomena or events; available evidence supports more than one interpretation. Uncertainty: lack of
information about phenomena or events.
So, food quality management research and analysis should assume a situation of relative chaos and not
order and should recognize ambiguity and uncertainty. However, at the same time it must realise
predictive and guaranteed quality levels. Both food and human systems have their own dynamic
behaviour and are therefore not completely predictable. However, conditioning will generate organized
and patterned behaviour. Conditioning aims at reducing variation in dynamic behaviour and creates
boundaries to constrain extremes in behaviour outcomes.
1.2 Techno-material approach in food quality management
1.2.1 Techno-managerial approach
We described a food system as the whole range of product properties (content of sugars, pH, aw) and
dynamic food processes (enzyme activity, microbial growth rate). Food behaviour is the result of the
,outcomes of the food system over time. A food system is a subject to a food production system, which is
the whole range of production activities and technological conditions that are necessary to realise the
desired product properties.
The complexity and variability of these food production systems are ascribed to:
- Heterogeneity of food products due to their complex structure, heterogenous distribution of
constituents, and compartments
- Variation in composition and level due to cultivar and breeding differences, seasonal influences,
weather and harvesting conditions.
- Continuous decay of quality attributes due to a wide range of food processes, like microbial,
physical, biochemical, chemical and physiological processes.
- Interactions between food processes
- Interaction of food materials with contact materials like equipment
- Dependability of food properties on process design characteristics
So, a food system is a complex system with dynamic and variable behaviour.
Human systems relate to people with certain individual characteristics taking decisions in order to
reach goals. Human behaviour is the result of the decision-making outcomes of people over time.
Human systems are subject to a management system, which is described as the whole range of
managerial activities and administrative conditions influencing decision-making activities in order to
obtain the desired decisions.
Decision-making can be influence by various aspects like type of information, personal
characteristics, motivation and ability but also organizational condition, conflicting interests,
availability of information and power. Besides the complex and dynamic character of decision-
making of people, organizational conditions also have their own dynamics and life cycle, due to a
continuously changing environment that requires organisations to adapt. Therefore, under various
organizational conditions, decision-making will result in different outcommes.
The techno-managerial approach advocates the importance of understanding the behaviour of both
food and human systems and their interdependency.
Technological disciplines, such as microbiology, chemistry, process technology, physics and
complexity of food systems, in order to control and predict them. Management studies incorporates
psychology, sociology, economics, mathematics, and legal science to understand peoples’ bahaviour
within their organizational and chain context. As a consequence, foor quality management embraces
the integrated use of technological disciplines as well as the integrated use of managerial sciences.
1.2.2 Food Quality Relationship
Food dynamics and technological conditions influence food behaviour FB=f(FD,TC)
Human dynamics and administrative conditions influence human behaviour HB=f(HD,AC)
Together, this is food Quality FQ=f(FB,HB)
1.2.3 Food Quality Management Functions
The FQM model consists of four elements:
, - The “consumer/customer requirements” element concerns the quality concept which is the
starting point for FQM. Quality is described here in terms of physical and organizational quality
dimensions.
- The “environment” element refers to social, political, economic, and technological circumstances
in the environment that affect decision-making on food quality by the organization, via interests
and power.
- The “Technological functions” element refers to the technology dependent activities needed to
achieve a product with certain physical properties. Technology is defined as a set of processes,
tools, methods, and equipment used to produce goods. The technology dependent activities
include the actual production activities as well as measuring activities to provide information
about the status of products and processes. These activities are executed by (process)
equipment, machines, and tools alone or in combination with people
- The “Managerial functions” element refers to the necessary decision-making activities to
activate the food production system as well as the management system, to give it the right
direction, and to ensure that it meets consumer and customer requirements.
Within the technological functions there are three with different objectives:
1. Physical supply and storage of incoming food materials. Technological activities are aimed at
obtaining and maintaining the required physical properties of incoming food materials
2. Transformation of food materials into processed food products. Activities are aimed at
transforming materials into food products with desired physical properties by applying
appropriate technological conditions
3. Physical storage and distribution of processed food products. Activities are aimed at maintaining
the required food properties and preventing deterioration by applying appropriate storage and
distribution conditions.
With respect to the managerial functions, five different ones were identified.
1. Quality design aims at incorporating quality in food product and process design. It starts with
specifying consumer and or customer demands and translating them into product and
process specifications. Requirements on resources are also specified, like suppliers, process
and transport equipment, and people involved.
2. Quality control is the ongoing process of evaluating the performance of both technological
and human processes and taking corrective action when necessary. It is aimed at keeping
processes within acceptable tolerances.
3. Quality improvement is aimed at changing people, processes, and resources in order to bring
them to a higher level of quality performance into ‘new zones of control’, which means
working with lower tolerances
4. Quality assurances activities deal with setting requirements for the quality system,
evaluating its performance and organizing any necessary changes. The objective is to control
the quality system, which includes all activities and decisions to realise quality, and to
provide confidence to customers and consumers that quality requirements will be met.
5. Quality strategy and policy are aimed at determining long-term food quality goals and
objectives and establishing how to achieve them using the quality system. This includes
