An Assignment On "Quality of Food Products"
Definition:
Food is any substance consumed to
provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant
or animal
origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates,
fats,
proteins,
vitamins,
or minerals.
The substance is ingested by an organism and assimilated by the organism's
cells in an effort to produce energy, maintain life, or stimulate growth.
Food product is a substance that can be used or prepared for use as food.
Quality of food
and food products may be defined as the degree of excellence of the various
characteristics that influence consumer acceptance as well as consumer safety.
Classification of food products:
3.
Fats and Oils.
Ø
Salt, Monosodium, glutamate, Sugar, Sauces.
6.
Infant Formulas.
Importance of Food Quality Assurance
Systems:
Some
reasons for the implementation of food quality assurance programs are:
Ø Customer expectations - Today the customers have become
more demanding and knowledgeable. They are more concerned about the ingredients
of the food products and hence maintaining optimum quality standards in food
industry has become very necessary.
Ø Environmental concerns - Nowadays, people are more
concerned about the environment. Environment protection laws have also become
stringent. Hence, employing environmental friendly methods in the food industry
has become necessary. QA plays a big role in all this.
Ø Organic Foods – There is more demand for organic foods
because people have realized the ill effects of in-organic foods like damage to
the environment and health. Hence quality monitoring and guarantee ensures that
the chemicals are within the specified limits in any food product.
Ø Technology - With the development in technology,
various methods for food processing and other food related activities have
emerged. These methods provide safer and higher quality food to the customers.
Today all organizations related to food have to ensure good quality systems to
compete in the market.
Ø Regulatory requirements - Food being a critical element
of life, the regulatory agencies have also put in place stringent requirements
for its safety and quality. Here also food quality assurance
Ø Programs help the food industry to meet these requirements
consistently and deliver food that is fit for consumption.
Most
of the organizations dealing with food and allied products have built their
quality monitoring and guarantee systems based on requirements of
standardization and analysis. This ensures that they fulfill the requirements
related to food quality as well as food safety and hence give confidence to the
consumers.
The
standardization quality management system is focused on building the quality
system through standard documentation, processes and periodic audits – internal
as well as external. The corrective and preventive actions taken for closure of
the non-conformities found during the audits make sure that the organizations
quality system is continually improving.
Types of
food quality:
There are four different types of food quality (Grunert et
al., 1996). These are product-oriented
quality, process-oriented quality, quality control, and user-oriented quality.
Product-oriented quality is measured by means of food product’s physical
properties, like fat percentage, muscle size of meat, sell content in milk,
etc. Process-oriented quality is concerned with characteristics of the
production process, which are not necessary mirrored in physical
characteristics of the product, like the fulfillment of ecological and ethical
production standards. Quality control refers to the extent to which product-
and process-oriented quality remains stable at pre-specified levels. Finally,
user-oriented quality is the subjective quality perception of a user.
The four types of quality are
interrelated. Specifically, the user-oriented quality will be affected by the
other three types of qualities. In addition, the user-oriented quality is
influenced not only by the physical characteristics of the product, but also by
its price, the purchase situation, the type of the retail chain, etc.
Quality dimensions and consumer segments:
Up to now different frameworks have
been described for the analysis of food quality perception. In this part of the
thesis, attention is focused on food quality dimensions and consumer segments,
which differ according to their food-related lifestyle. Later in the thesis the
perception of quality dimensions will be described through empirical works with
relation to the Total Food Quality Model.
Quality
dimensions:
According to Steenkamp, Wierenga, and Meulenberg (1986), four dimensions are identified in their
research covering thirteen food products. These are nutritional value
(correlations with attributes like protein content, vitamin content and
nutritional value), additives (correlation with preservatives, artificial
flavour and colour additives), energy (correlation with attributes like fat,
protein and caloric content) and sensory (correlating with smell, appearance
and taste). The food products differ considerably with respect to the
importance attached to the four dimensions.
Grunert et al. (1996) identified other four quality
dimensions, which more or less coincide with those that were shortly described
above. They are called taste and appearance, health, convenience and process.
The important dimension of quality
for consumers is related to the hedonic characteristic of food, which is
presented by taste, and appearance and smell. This hedonic characteristic can
only be ascertained after consumption and therefore, it is called experience
characteristic of food.
Health has become a very important
food characteristic to consumers and they consider it as important as taste.
Consumers form preferences for this food characteristic motivated by
expectations for a longer, high-quality life (Roininen,
Lähteenmäki, & Tuorila, 1999). This
characteristic of food quality is related to the way consumers perceive food to
affect their health. This dimension includes functional qualities of food, but
also safety and risk-related issues. The health quality of food is a credence
characteristic, because consumers cannot establish the consequences for his/her
health right after consumption, so the consumer needs to trust this
characteristic.
Consumers consider convenience as an important experience
quality dimension of food but it means much more than just ease of purchase or
quick consumption. According to Les Gofton, consumers perceive the quality
dimension convenience as such that saves time in the overall meal process:
planning and purchasing, storage and preparation of products, consumption, and
the cleaning up and disposal of leftovers (Gofton, 1995).
Finally, consumers are also interested in the way food is
produced, that is the production process dimension of quality. This
characteristic covers organic production, production that takes into account animal
welfare, and production with no genetically modified organisms. Those consumers
that pay attention to the process dimension of food quality focus on the
naturalness of the food. Just like the health dimension, process dimension is a
credence characteristic, since the consumer has to trust various sources for
the production-oriented quality of food.
The all four dimensions of food quality are interrelated and
sometimes overlapping but it depends on the food product. For example,
consumers sometimes consider taste and healthiness of food to be positively
corelated, in other times, they are negatively correlated. Such kind of
assumptions are typical of consumer quality perception and they will be
discussed later in the thesis.
Also, none of the four quality dimensions is a search
dimension (except for the cases when food can be tasted in the store before
purchasing it). This means that consumers can only establish the quality of a
particular food product only after consumption, not before or during purchase.
Thus, purchase decisions are based on quality expectations. Quality
expectations are formed based on previous experience with the product or on
familiarity with the brand. Thus, quality expectations are inferred.
Consumer
segments:
The importance of the four quality dimensions that were just
described differ among consumers. That is, the process of food quality
perception and consequently, the choice of food they make is individually
defined. Although there are individual differences, people can be segmented
according to specific traits that explain the way people relate food to the
attainment of values. These traits, called food-related lifestyle (Grunert et
al., 1996), are non-product specific and can be summarized as purchasing
motives, quality aspects, shopping habits, cooking methods, and consumption
situations.
Involved:
These consumers find life’s challenge in other areas than
food. Their purchase motives for food are weak, and the interest in food
quality is only related to the convenience dimension. They are uninterested in
shopping, lack brand loyalty, and cannot perceive differences among different
food products. Their price interest is also low. They mostly eat snacks, have
little interest in cooking, and tend not to plan their meals. These consumers
are, on average, young, single, living in big cities, with low-level of income.
Careless
food consumer:
These consumers share some of the characteristics of the involved consumers in that they do not find food important and focus only on
the convenience quality. However, they are interested in new products, but as
long as they do not require new cooking methods. They are young, living in big
cities, with more education and higher income in comparison to the involved consumer.
Rational
food consumer:
These are the consumers who are most open to better quality
food products with functional characteristics like, healthiness, naturalness,
freshness. They look for a lot of information when shopping, which makes them
easy to inform about product improvements. New products are not appreciated, so
information about product imporvements should be communicated. The major
purchase motives for these consumers are self-fulfilment, recognition and
security. This segment is represented mostly by women with families, who live
in medium-sized cities. This segment is considered to consist of highly
critical consumers.
Conservative
food consumer:
The major purchase motive for these consumers are security
and stabilty by following traditional meal patterns. They are very interested
in taste and health aspects of food, so the convenience factor is not prioritized. This segment is difficult to win with new products or different
marketing initiatives, because they have concrete preferences for food and shops.
Consumers in this segment are least educated, living in rural areas and have
generally low income.
Adventurous
food consumer:
This segment is represented by consumers who use food and
cooking for self-fulfilment, expressing creativity and social purposes. They
are not interested in convenience but insist on good food quality and good
taste. They are interested in exotic food products and like to experiment in
cooking. These consumers are young and members of large size family. They have
the highest education, high income and live in big cities.
Impact of technologies of on foods fortification procedure:
In
order to achieve the required level of nutrients in fortified products reaching
the consumer, manufacturers have to estimate processing and storage losses and
add the necessary excess during production. The introduction of new processes,
equipment and packaging materials can affect processing and storage losses and
hence fortification procedures.
Thermal
treatments in food processing serve multiple functions: destruction of
microorganisms, inactivation of enzymes and toxic factors, modification of
flavor and texture. In many cases the heat treatment is selected based on
consideration of the required lethality of the process so as to render the
product safe under stated conditions of storage.
The
lethality of a process is a function of both temperature and time of exposure
at each temperature. The Arrhenius activation energy of spore inactivation is
high as compared with that for vitamin destruction. For this reason, at high
temperatures the microbiological requirements of the thermal process can be met
with relatively low losses of vitamin being incurred. Heat treatments based on
the principle of 'High Temperature Short Time' (HTST) or Ultra High Temperature
(UHT) are less destructive to the vitamin content and require the addition of
lower levels of excess vitamins to account for processing losses.
The
shelf life of aseptically processed foods can exceed 1 year and storage losses
over this entire period must be taken into consideration in the calculation of
required overages. During aseptic processes the product is cooled prior to
packaging into sterile containers, headspace oxygen and dissolved oxygen levels
are therefore higher than for hot-filled products or for traditional thermal
processes which involve exhausting or vacuum sealing prior to processing.
Problems of vitamin loss in aseptically processed foods have been attributed to
dissolved and headspace oxygen, oxygen and light permeability of the packaging
material and to commodity-specific reaction which are only dependent on storage
temperature (Ryley and Kajda, 1994). In aseptically processed milk the
dissolved and headspace oxygen lead to rapid initial losses of vitamin C
activity.
This in turn causes substantial losses in folate as vitamin C plays
an important role in the protection of folate. Oamen (1989) also reported heavy
losses of vitamins B6, and B12 during storage of
aseptically processed milk.
Improvements
in the barrier properties of plastics and laminates also impact on the
potential for nutrient loss on storage of products other than those aseptically
processed.
Irradiation and Microwaves:
Irradiation
is used to a limited extent in food processing and as such cannot be expected
to impact upon fortification procedures to a large extent. One common use of
food irradiation is in the prevention of insect infestation in grains. Losses
of vitamin B1 on irradiation of whole grains are small, but increase
in the irradiation of milled grains. Losses of this vitamin can be reduced by
exclusion of oxygen during irradiation and storage (Kilcast, 1994).
The
increased use of microwave cooking on sous-vide and other cook-chill foods does
not have a major effect on vitamin retention (Hill. 1994).
The
maintenance of a well functioning Quality Assurance (QA) programme is essential
if a consistent product is to result which meets all required standards. Such a
programme should be based on Hazard Analysis and Quality Analysis Critical
Control Point (HACCP and QACCP) systems. HACCP and QACCP are more proactive
than traditional approaches to QA/QC activities. The establishment of such
programmes is the responsibility of QA personnel but the execution of it
involves everyone in the company. To avoid ambiguity regarding responsibility
for any QA function, it is important to assign specific HACCP/QACCP
accountabilities to responsible persons and groups (Corlett, 1992).
A
QA programme must consider all activities impacting upon product quality, from
raw materials and ingredients used to product handling through distribution
channels all the way to the final consumer. In respect of this, Wilson (1991)
has outlined the following required components of a QA system:
i) Raw material control - standard
specifications must be adopted for all ingredients which must then be inspected
to ensure conformity;
ii)
Process control - all chemical, physical and microbiological hazards as well as
quality factors must be identified, critical control points (CCP) must be
established, monitored and a record made of any action taken;
iii)
Finished product control - this requires that the finished product be
unadulterated, properly labeled and that the integrity of the finished be
protected from the environment.
All
food production activities must be monitored and controlled within the
framework of an effective QA programmed. The addition of nutrients to a food
for the purpose of fortification adds to the control points which have to be
considered. Poor manufacturing control leading to excessively high levels of
nutrients in the finished product could have important health implications for
the consumer if intake of the nutrient reaches the toxic dose. Conversely, low
levels of nutrients in the finished product could render it nutritionally
ineffective. This could also have serious health implications if the target
population in the fortification programme was at high nutritional risk. Poor manufacturing
control could also lead to other quality defects related to interactions of
added nutrients with other components of the system.
The
following steps in the implementation of a quality assurance programme in the
production of a fortified food have been outlined by Wilson (1991):
i) Product specifications - All
specifications for fortificants, food vehicle and any other ingredients must be
documented as well as acceptable deviations of these. These include
specification of particle size, colour, potency, level of fortification as well
as any other requirement which might be deemed necessary.
ii)
Product safety assessment - This involves an assessment of microbiological,
chemical and physical hazards for all ingredients and the finished product
iii)
Product analysis - Sampling and testing procedures for all ingredients and the
finished product must be explicitly stated.
iv)
Determination of critical and quality control points - Based on first hand
knowledge of the total process (including the plant facility, equipment and
environment) stages at which inadequate control could lead to unacceptable
health risk or adversely affect product quality are identified. The system of
controls and actions to be taken at each control point are documented.
v)
Recall system - A mechanism must be put in place whereby product can be
recalled if such action becomes necessary.
vi)
QA audit - Periodic checks are necessary to verify that the QA system is
effective and product quality is maintained up to the ultimate consumer.
vii)
Feedback mechanism - Response to consumers and other relevant groups to correct
any deficiencies discovered.
viii)
Documentation of QA system - Details of the QA programme used in the production
of the fortified food must be readily available to relevant individuals and
organizations.
Shortcomings
of many fortification programmes in the past have been due to failure to
establish an adequate quality assurance programme. Evaluation of the
fortification of sugar with vitamin A in Guatemala showed that only 30% of
samples tested were fortified at levels within the legal limits (Nestel, 1993).
A study of iodine content in iodised salt samples obtained from several plants
in India also provided an example of the need for greater control in processing
(Ranganathan and Narasinga, 1986).
In
the determination of critical and other control points for any process accurate
flow diagrams outlining the total process have been used (Pierson and Corlett,
1992). The construction of an accurate flow diagram for any given process
requires firsthand knowledge of the processing facility and its environs so
that all factors which might be expected to impact on product safety could be
identified. Annex 1 includes a list of common critical control points and
examples of monitoring procedures in the processing of selected fortified
foods, which are intended to demonstrate the main points of a quality assurance
programmed.
Recommendations
of the FAO/WHO Expert Technical Consultation on "The Use of HACCP in Food
Control' (1995c) included the following:
i. Use of HACCP serves to improve
food safety control and should be applied on that basis;
ii.
The elaboration of food safety policies by government and international
agencies should use risk analysis as the basis for establishing food safety
priorities and for focusing inspection resources. These policies should be
implemented through national strategic plans;
iii.
In the post Uruguay Round of GATT, the Codex Alimentarius Commission should recognize
the importance of its role in harmonizing and establishing food standards,
guidelines and recommendations particularly as it relates to safety of food in
international trade. Codex should develop a strategic plan which will include a
strengthening of the scientific basis for risk analysis, equivalence and the
elaboration of its standards, guidelines and other recommendations and should
include specific instructions to the Codex Committees on incorporating HACCP.
Food adulteration:
Food adulteration is the act of intentionally debasing the quality of food offered for sale either by the admixture or substitution of inferior substances or by the removal of some valuable ingredient. Food is declared adulterated if:
Food adulteration is the act of intentionally debasing the quality of food offered for sale either by the admixture or substitution of inferior substances or by the removal of some valuable ingredient. Food is declared adulterated if:
Ø a substance is added which depreciates or injuriously
affects it
Ø cheaper or inferior substances are substituted wholly or in
part
Ø any valuable or necessary constituent has been wholly or in
part abstracted
Ø it is an imitation
Ø it is colored or otherwise treated, to improve its
appearance or if it contains any added substance injurious to health
Food-preservatives have a very
extensive use, which often constitutes adulteration. Salt is the classic
preservative, but is seldom classified as an adulterant. Salicylic, benzoic,
and boric acids, and their sodium salts, formaldehyde, ammonium fluoride,
sulphurous acid and its salts are among the principal preservatives. Many of
these appear to be innocuous, but there is danger that the continued use of
food preserved by these agents may be injurious. Some preservatives have been
conclusively shown to be injurious when used for long periods.
The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act (1938) provides that food is "adulterated" if it meets anyone of the following criteria:
(1) It bears or contains any
"poisonous or deleterious substance" which may render it injurious to
health;
(2) It bears or contains any
added poisonous or added deleterious
substance that is unsafe;
(3) Its container is composed, in
whole or in part, of any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render
the contents injurious to health;
(4) It bears or contains a pesticide
chemical residue that is unsafe. Food also meets the definition of adulteration
if:
(5) It is, or it bears or contains,
an unsafe food additive;
(6) It is, or it bears or contains,
an unsafe new animal drug;
(7) It is, or it bears or contains,
an unsafe color additive;
(8) It consists, in whole or in
part, of "any filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance" or is
otherwise unfit for food; or
(9) It has been prepared, packed, or
held under unsanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with
filth or rendered injurious to health. Further, food is considered adulterated
if:
(10) It has been irradiated and the
irradiation processing was not done in conformity with a regulation permitting
irradiation of the food.
Discussion and
recommendation:
The main challenge for consumers, however, is that food
products like meat, fruits, bread, are usually unbranded and their quality
vary. Still, there are food products, which are branded but the consumer is
either unaware of their existence or s/he does not relate the particular brand
to consistent quality. In this case, consumers will rely on other extrinsic
cues, like price, store image, packaging, origin, and so on.
Health is important part of the consumer’s food quality
perception and food choice. Health quality is related to basic life values,
like good health, long life, family’s welfare, high quality life, healthy body
and physical well-being. Eating healthily and health concept is subjective and
norms are considered to influence food intake. Consumers have developed their
own way of judgment of food healthiness but they clearly demonstrate awareness
on low fat, vitamins, cholesterol, unsaturated fatty acids and so on terms considered
to be good indicators of food healthiness.
Health is a credence
characteristic of food products, so credible and effective communication plays
an essential role towards the achievement of positive evaluation of this
quality dimension. The effectiveness of communications depends on three
factors: the credibility of the source, the receiver’s motivation and ability
to process the information. On the other hand, the food manufacturer is legally
restricted on the health claims. Thus, the final communication has to abide by
legal requirements and in the same time, has to integrate consumers’ individual
understanding of health concept.
Just like health dimension, the process dimension is a
credence characteristic of food, so consumers rely on credible information when
evaluating this food quality. The process characteristics or more precisely the
organic production characteristics of food are considered to be better for the
environment, better for animal welfare, and better for working conditions
during production. In addition, consumers associate organic production with
health and better taste, as the latter makes the characteristic ‘organic’ also
partly an experience characteristic. Overall, consumers expect organic food to
be of better quality across all quality dimensions. But positive inferences do
not necessarily lead to a purchase, if consumers find the trade-off between
give and get component unfavorable. In this respect, consumers find limited
availability, high prices and mismatch between the expected taste and
experienced taste to be the main problems related to organic food.
Finally, what consumers associate with organic foods, that
is, their reasons for buying or rejecting it, is affected by national
conditions, food cultures, and traditions. Despite the identification of
similar food-related lifestyles across countries, the beliefs and attribute to
value chains associated with organic foods differ substantially between
countries, even within the same cross-national segment. This leads to the conclusion
that when food quality and choice are analyzed, cultural characteristics need
to be considered playing important roles in the consumers’ quality perception
processes related to organic food.
It is recommended that this approach is further broadened by
investigating the effects of convenience orientation on the purchase of
convenience products, the use of convenient shopping outlets and the use of
eating out and home meal replacements. Also, for results that better reflect
the perception of convenience quality of food, segmentation of consumers is
advisable.
It is essential to mention, that consumers apply all the four
dimensions when judging food quality, which means that all of them
simultaneously play a significant role in the formation of quality expectations
and the consequent quality experiences. In this case, it can be said that
consumers are involved in a multidimensional quality perception process when
choosing food. One thing is clear that quality dimensions and applied quality
cues are idiosyncratic to the product category investigated and generalizations
should be carefully made.
Consumer segmentation is very important when food quality is
analyzed. This is because individuals are unique and as consumers they differ
in the perception of food quality.
Some are price sensitive, other - are product-involved, still
other are conservative or adventurous. Whatever their characteristic, in order
to better understand processes related to quality judgments, consumers need to
be grouped in different segments and analyzed according to the specific
characteristics of the group.
In this respect, social, cultural and demographic variables
are essential to be considered in future works, since their influence has been
proven to affect consumer’s quality perception and food choice. In the current
thesis, reference groups, advertisements, magazines, are not reflected in the
quality judgment processes. It is recommended to do so, because they have
impact on consumer’s behavior, which can be related to food choice, as well.
More research is needed on expected and experienced
convenience; the effect of food sensory characteristics on experienced
convenience quality, the effect of eating situation on the experienced taste,
health, convenience, and process qualities.
References:
Ø www.wikipedia.com
Ø Alien,
D. H. 1991. Monosodium Glutamate. In Food Allergy: Adverse reactions to foods
and food additives, (ed.) Metcalfe, D. D., Sampson, H. A. and Simon, C. A..
Blackwell Sci. Pub. Boston.
Ø Anderson,
R. H., Maxwell, D.L., Mulley, A. E. and Fritsch, C. W. 1976. Effects of
processing and storage on micronutrients in breakfast cereals. Food Technol.
30:5, pp. 110-114.
Ø Andersson,
E. 1994. Le saviez-vous? Rapport du conseil de l'alimentation et de la
nutrition Neerlandais. Med. et Nut. T. XXX No. 6.
Ø Aguilar,
J. R., Arroyave, G. and Gallardo, I. C. 1977. Manual de Supervision y control
de programas de forticacion de azucar con vitamin A. INCAP Pub. E913,
Guatemala.
Ø Anon.
1995a. Indicators for tracking progress in IDD elimination. IDD Newsletter 10:4
pp. 38-40. Anon. 1995b. Calcium fortification monitoring. Food Labelling News 3:24
p. 9.
Ø Anon.
1995c. Vitamin E fortification of fat-modified foods predicted. Food Chemical
News; 37:42, 39-40.
If you have any opinion Please, comments ...
Data accumulated & compiled by:
Data accumulated & compiled by:
Dewan Pavel (M. PHARM)
Mundipharma (Bangladesh) Pvt. Ltd.
Officer, Quality Assura
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