1.
INTRODUCTION
Quality control is the sum of all those controllable factors that ultimately influence positively or
negatively the quality of the finished product e.g. selection of raw materials, processing methods,
packaging, methods of storage distribution etc. Quality is defined as any of the features that
make something what it is or the degree of excellence or superiority (1). The word "quality" is
used in various ways as applied to food. Quality product to the salesman means one of high
quality and usually at an expensive nature e.g. champagne is considered a quality as compared to
fish and chips. Likewise for fresh produce, the word "quality" refers to the attributes of the food
which make it agreeable to the person who eats it. This involves positive factors like colour,
flavour, texture and nutritive value as well as the negative characteristic such as freedom from
harmful micro-organisms and undesirable substances.
The term control does not imply that a poor raw material can be converted into a good finished
product. In food processing, the general rule is that the effective methods must be carefully
applied to conserve the original qualities of the raw materials. Processing cannot improve the
raw material.
The aim of quality control is to achieve as good and as consistent a standard of quality in the
product being produced as is compatible with the market for which the product is designed. (2)
2.0
THE PRINCIPLES OF QUALITY CONTROL
The principles of quality control are considered under the following:
Raw material control
Process control
Finished product inspection
Invariably, once a food product has been through a manufacturing process, little can be done to
alter its quality. Thus examination of finished products only permits acceptance of material
reaching the desired standard and rejection of material which fails to reach this standard. Such a
process is therefore one of inspection and not one of control. It can be claimed that if control of
raw materials and control of process is perfect, the final product will not require inspection.
However, in practice it is seldom possible to guarantee complete control over raw materials and
processing conditions and thus a greater or lesser degree of finished product inspection will be
necessary, depending on circumstances within the factory. it is economically desirable to
concentrate on ensuring that inspection (and rejection) at the finished product stage is reduced to
a nominal level by effective raw material and process controls.
In a food processing industry the stores and warehouses often contain a large range of raw
materials. Raw materials such as artificial colouring, spices and essences may be used slowly and
may deteriorate on long storage. Others such as wheat or milk powder may be rapidly replaced in
the flour and milk industry respectively. Fresh meat is highly perishable and requires good
refrigeration where sugar, salt etc. may be very stable and only requires a cool dry condition to
remain in excellent condition for a long period. It's not every single raw material which must be
subjected to detailed examination and testing at frequent intervals. Those used in insignificant
amounts can be omitted from frequent inspection since the cost of inspection will often far
outweigh the advantages gained.
In any product, there is a dominant raw material (sometimes it could be several of these) upon
which the quality of the finished product is mainly dependent e.g. in bread production, flour is
the essential raw material, malt for beer, wheat for flour etc.
3.0
RAW MATERIAL SELECTION AND PRODUCT QUALITY
The following are the rules of quality control:
I.
The dominant raw material (s) are selected for priority of attention
2.
The selected raw materials are tested in relation to their contribution to product quality.
3.
The raw materials tested are released from the stores only after the test results
have been properly recorded.
4.
Process control must relate the processing results to the raw materials test.
Define the critical points in the process and concentrate on these.
6.
Finished product inspection should be reduced to the minimum level compatible with
the confidence justified by the raw materials and process control.
7.
Quality control is effective in proportion to its degree of integration into the overall
organisation of the factory.
The formulation of the type of sampling and the test applied must reflect in the finished product.
The test must be fast, simple and suited to the purpose but the same time reliable to enable the
laboratory to give authorization to the factory to use the raw material. This test can be chemical,
physical, bacteriological or organoleptic.
Careful planning is necessary for release of raw test results. The factory must not be deprived of
an essential raw material while it awaits quality control clearance. Pressures of production are
invariable high and nothing brings a quality control system more quickly into disrepute than
delays while testing is carried out. When there is good cooperation management delays can be
avoided. This means that the work of quality control must be integrated with the factory
management plan.
It is evident that raw material control and process control arc inter-related. It is difficult to
discuss raw material control without reference to process control and it is also equally difficult to
talk of process control without assuming that proper raw material controls are simultaneously in
operation and that the dominant raw materials are known to have reached the standards required
for proper processing.
In planning a process control scheme, one must first and foremost list in sequence the steps in the
process and put it in a flow diagram. Each step is considered critically and against it sources of
deviation is prepared. From this list a number of points in the process will be recognised as
critical points (CP) at which trouble may arise which may be reflected in the quality of the
finished product.
The flow sheet stimulates thought on matters of detail which might otherwise be missed and thus
provides new ideas for avoiding difficulties. Against each critical point, list immediate steps
which may be taken to reduce variation together with further ideas which could be adopted at a
later stage to eliminate it completely. The success of any quality control system depends on the
sympathetic interest of top management. The initiative system must come from the top
management. It is useless merely to instruct a laboratory to start a quality control system unless
management at all levels from Managing Director to shop foreman is prepared to accept it and to
co-operate in its implementation.
Quality control is one aspect of the overall control production which in its totality, constitutes the
management function. Stock control, production management, plant maintenance and sales
budgeting are terms used by management to describe activities directed towards achieving the
purposes of the organization within the limits of its resources. The concept behind the terms used
is the coordinated direction of efforts towards an idealized optimum situation in which maximum
results are achieved with minimum effort. As society becomes more complex, management
activities may be directed not merely to achieving the maximum profit as shown in the annual
accounts in any years, but to producing what might be described as a situation of profit growth.
An example of this would be a decision to raise a quality standard at the expense of an
immediate reduction in profit level with the anticipation that improved demand will more than
counter-balance this profit reduction in the near future.
It is apparent that traditional quality control is completely unable to eliminate quality problems
as such a preventative strategy based on thorough analysis of prevailing conditions which
provides assurance that objective of the quality assurance programme are met. This has been
developed into the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system (3). This primarily
aims at guaranteeing food safety but can easily be extended to cover spoilage economic fraud.
The latest quality systems, such as certification under an International Accepted Standard (ISO
9000 Series) and Total Quality Management (TQM) [are those] in which everybody in an
organisation is fully committed to achieving all aspects of quality. These days national food
legislations place total responsibility for food quality on the producer (4).
3.1
Main elements of the HACCP system
The main elements of the HACCP system are:
1.
Identify potential hazards. Assess the risk (likelihood) of occurrence.
2.
Determine the Critical Control Points (CCPs). Determine steps that can be
controlled to eliminate or minimise the hazard.
3.
Establish the criteria (tolerances, target level) that must met to ensure that CCP is under
control.
4.
Establish a monitoring system.
5.
Establish the corrective action when CCP is not under control.
6.
Establish procedures for verification.
7.
Establish documentation and record keeping.
Hazards have been defined as the unacceptable contamination growth and survival of bacteria in
food that may affect safety or quality (spoilage) or the unacceptable production or persistence in
foods of substances such as toxins, enzymes or products of' microbial metabolism (5).
Simply it is a biological, chemical or physical property that may cause a food to be unsafe for
consumption.
4.0
HACCP
We have an HACCP system so that there is an increase in probability of 'Right first time' every
time. It facilitates the ability to customers and trade across barriers. The customer's confidence is
not only increased but it shows the diligence of the manufacturer leading to constant
improvement and ability to seek third party certification
ISO 9000 series (6) is identified to British standard 5750. ISO 9000 series do not set standards
for you, nor tell you how and where to measure them but it provides the normal legal and safety
requirements. These standards are set by the company. The good news is HACCP can and does
interface with ISO 900. Other series are ISO 9001,9002, 9003 and 9004. (7,8,9,10)
4.1
Critical Control Point (CCP)
This should be identified and carefully chosen on the basis of risk of severity of the hazard,
where severity means the seriousness of the consequences when a hazard occurs and risk is and
estimate of the probability or likelihood of a hazard occurring. It is only the risk which can be
controlled. The CCP may be a location, procedure or processing step at which hazards can be
controlled. Two types of CCP may be identified.
CCP1 ensures full control of control of hazard, whilst
CCP2 minimises but does not assure lull control.
At the CCP, the hazard can be prevented, eliminated or reduced to acceptable levels. The CCP
should truly be critical. Some of the CCPs are there as a result of company rules for good
manufacturing practice, product reputation, company policy.
The HACCP concept sets priorities on risks and emphasizes operations that offer the greatest
potential for control. Example of CCPs are a specified heat process, chilling, specific sanitation
procedures, preventive of cross-contamination, and adjustment of food to a given pH or NaCl
solution.
4.2
Criteria for target levels and tolerances for each CCP
A detailed description of all CCPs is necessary for effectiveness. This includes determination of
criteria and specified limits or characteristics of a physical or biological nature such as time and
temperature. Other known criteria such as pH and moisture level can be obtained from technical
literature; however, the HACCP team needs to define the processing conditions for obtaining
safe food.
It is insufficient to state that internal temperature of a food should arrive at a certain temperature.
The precise operation to obtain the said target level using the available equipment must be
determined and the level of tolerance established. Equipment and instruments used for control
functions must be kept under strict control and the performance must be validated regularly. In
monitoring the measure should accurately identify and choose factors which control a CCP. It
should be simple, give a quick result, be able detect deviations from specifications and criteria
(loss of control) and finally, provide this information in time for corrective action to be taken.
The effectiveness of control should be preferably monitored by visual observations or by
physical and chemical testing. Microbiological methods are usually used to randomly verify the
effectiveness of control of all CCPs, e.g. verification of hygiene and sanitation controls.
Monitoring involves record keeping, data collection and trend analysis. A simple but effective
data collection (monitoring) activity and forms should be designed. These records are the tools
which management and outside inspectors will use to ensure operations are within specifications.
The system must allow for corrective action to be taken immediately when the monitoring results
indicate that a particular CCP is not under control and action must be taken before deviation
leads to a safety hazard. This corrective action involves four activities, i.e.
1. Use the results of monitoring to adjust the process to maintain control.
2. If control is lost, you must deal with non-compliance products.
3. You must fix or correct the cause of non-compliance.
4. Maintain records of the corrective actions.
One person must be designated the with responsibility to adjust the process and to inform others
with non-compliance products, after testing those that meet the standards are diverted to safe use,
whilst the substandard products are either reprocessed or destroyed depending on the degree of
sub-standardisation.
Verification is used to check whether HACCP system is working. Here random sampling and
analysis is used or even shelf life or incubation test for sterile products. This could also be done
by outside parties e.g. government authorities such as Ghana Standard Board (GSB), Food
Research Institute (FRI), trade partners, consumer organisation etc. The approved HACCP plan
and associated records should be on the file. Documentation of all procedures at all steps is
essential with all documents being assembled in a manual and available for inspection by
regulatory agencies. The head of quality assurance takes paramount responsibility for the general
and overall operations of system, though the first step is for top management to be firmly
committed.
In a large food factory the team will be multi-disciplinary that is, a microbiologist, processing
specialist, chemist, biochemist, engineer, packaging technologist, sales, staff, training and
personnel managers. For medium and small scale, the quality control and production managers
and few supporting staff like sales and administrative managers should be enough. If they do not
have qualified personnel on the payroll, they must prepared to buy assistance from outside
consultants in order to implement the system. When the team is assembled, their terms of
reference must be clearly defined and agreed by the group.
A detailed description and specification of the production must be provided to the team. This
includes technological aspects including preservatives parameters (NaCl, pH, organic acids,
colour etc.). The intended storage temperature packaging technology and intended use of product
should be clearly stated. The processing technology ingredients list, a precise flow diagram and
description of cleaning and sanitation procedures must be documented.
A visit to the processing site to verify and fully understand the process flow diagram is necessary
facilities and equipment designs must be inspected to obtain information on the possibility of
additional hazard related to these aspects e.g. layout, traffic pattern of people, equipment
properly sized for volume of food to be processed.
Quality control managers and supervisors can improve the date upon which yields are calculated
by using the knowledge of the properties of in-coming raw materials. On the other hand,
production control, with its detailed knowledge of movements of materials may provide
information of value in improving quality control's sampling methods, etc. However, good
personal relations between those concerned are essential if co-operation is to be obtained.
In personal relations the head of the quality control department has a special responsibility. He is
usually a graduate and may have enjoyed a better education than some of his colleagues. This
situation sometimes creates a mistrust or suspicion, which may be increased by an impression
that the quality control staff are a police force introduced by management to ensure that others
are doing their job properly. In this kink of situation, it is the duty of the head of the quality
control section to take an initiative in breaking down barriers of mistrust and suspicion. This can
neither be done overnight or by flexing one's muscles. Even if you know more than your
colleagues, you must avoid dogmatism and condescension.
5.0
CONCLUSION
Quality control is a dynamic concept which evolves from initial plan as experience grows. It
scans every day's production. Day-to-day experience of the variables to he met leads sometimes
to simplification of original plan. The introduction of improved machinery may also affect the
original plan. Year-to-year experience of raw material variability increases the degree of certainty
of predictions based on raw material testing. The bacteriological safety of a pack is a factor
involving the growth of confidence as experience grows.
In the industrialized world, all food processing is linked to quality control. They do operate
systematic quality control scheme. There are lots of mechanized control techniques and these are
linked with improvements in processing machinery. Thus, although quality control started with a
chemist, it may well be developed by an engineer.
From these considerations, it is tempting to speculate that in the 21st century, there will be a
possibility of centralizing all forms of control and using modern data processing methods to
obtain an integrated picture of events at any moment during the production schedule, and at the
same time to provide continuous monitoring of the schedule to allow very rapid adjustments to
fluctuating demand and changing circumstances. It is perhaps not too fantastic to suggest that the
manager of the future may sit at a desk provided with dials showing him the sales current level,
the current production level, the production efficiency level, the running profit margin and the
running quality index. There seems no fundamental reason why such a system could not be
devised to process continuous incoming information.
