Chapter 1
Food quality an integral part of today’s business management.
There are various changes confronting today’s food quality managers, such as:
1. the complexity of the agri-food production chain
2. the interaction between food production and people involved in production
3. the high demand placed on food quality by consumers and society
Food quality management
food quality and quality management are the two basic components of food quality management.
It deals whit the physical aspect of quality as well as managing the people who have to realize it and applies
to all stages in the agri-food production chain.
The agri-food production chain refers to the chain in which people transform agricultural products into
food products for use and consumption.
The usual approach to analyzing this chant is holistic and encompasses:
1. the Analysis of the actors
2. their activities
3. contribution to food quality for final consumption
It is also called the stable to table/ farm to fork / side to food approach
Importance of food quality
The worldwide recurrence of food safety scandals and foodborne outbreaks, persistent consumer and
governmental concern, and societal all changes have increased the importance of food quality for agri and
food businesses and the need to understand how to manage food quality along the agri food chain.
The graph depicts the broad range of quality requirements and concerns of consumers, costumers,
government and other stakeholders regarding food products, ingredients, packaging and food production
systems
1
,To comply with these Q-requirements:
- Food quality management (FQM) is there, aiming to realise food quality in food production processes it
is combining Food Quality and Quality Management.
Management of food quality is challenging and there are many factors that place demands on agri and food
businesses
There are multiple factors involved: Law, consumers, competitors, retail
Ambiguity and uncertainity Complex
The influence of each factor on FQM can be:
- Ambigue: Multiple meaning, open to more interpretations and possible mechanisms
- Uncertain: Lack of information about phenomena, missing of obtainable facts
This makes producing high quality food complex and not fully predictable
Consumers ask every time the same quality! How to do?
Focus on Food Quality (FQ) and on Quality management (QM) to reduce variation in final food quality.
Food production involves a food system (food behavior) and human system (human behavior).
What is quality?
Quality is meeting or exceeding customer and consumer expectations.
2
,Food quality
Business quality
3
, Food production from system perspective
Typical food behavior or technical aspects variation
Typical human behavior or managerial aspects variation
Two technological kinds of variation:
What could be technological aspects that influence food quality during production?
Food properties and decay processes (the food itself) and 2. technological conditions and production
activities (the production processes).
What could be managerial aspects that influence food quality during production?
Human properties and their decisions (the human itself) and 4. the administrative conditions and
management activities (the organisational processes)
Drawing the parallel:
Food properties and decay Human properties and their
processes (the food itself) and 2. decisions (the human itself) and 4.
technological conditions and the administrative conditions and
production activities (the management activities (the
production processes). organisational processes)
Do you see these two different viewpoints now?
Techno-managerial approach
the tecno-managerial approach advocates the importance of understanding the behavior of both food and
human systems and the interdependency.
The technology involves disciplines such as food microbiology, food chemistry, process technology, food
physics, human nutrition, plant and animal science. help to understand the complexity of food systems
Management involves disciplines such as psychology, sociology, economics, mathematics and law. help
in analyzing people’s behavior within the social, organizational, and supply chain context.
The techno-managerial approach differs from a managerial or a technological approach.
A managerial approach typically considers technological aspects as given facts whereas a technological
approach considers management aspects as non-changeable boundary restrictions.
4
Food quality an integral part of today’s business management.
There are various changes confronting today’s food quality managers, such as:
1. the complexity of the agri-food production chain
2. the interaction between food production and people involved in production
3. the high demand placed on food quality by consumers and society
Food quality management
food quality and quality management are the two basic components of food quality management.
It deals whit the physical aspect of quality as well as managing the people who have to realize it and applies
to all stages in the agri-food production chain.
The agri-food production chain refers to the chain in which people transform agricultural products into
food products for use and consumption.
The usual approach to analyzing this chant is holistic and encompasses:
1. the Analysis of the actors
2. their activities
3. contribution to food quality for final consumption
It is also called the stable to table/ farm to fork / side to food approach
Importance of food quality
The worldwide recurrence of food safety scandals and foodborne outbreaks, persistent consumer and
governmental concern, and societal all changes have increased the importance of food quality for agri and
food businesses and the need to understand how to manage food quality along the agri food chain.
The graph depicts the broad range of quality requirements and concerns of consumers, costumers,
government and other stakeholders regarding food products, ingredients, packaging and food production
systems
1
,To comply with these Q-requirements:
- Food quality management (FQM) is there, aiming to realise food quality in food production processes it
is combining Food Quality and Quality Management.
Management of food quality is challenging and there are many factors that place demands on agri and food
businesses
There are multiple factors involved: Law, consumers, competitors, retail
Ambiguity and uncertainity Complex
The influence of each factor on FQM can be:
- Ambigue: Multiple meaning, open to more interpretations and possible mechanisms
- Uncertain: Lack of information about phenomena, missing of obtainable facts
This makes producing high quality food complex and not fully predictable
Consumers ask every time the same quality! How to do?
Focus on Food Quality (FQ) and on Quality management (QM) to reduce variation in final food quality.
Food production involves a food system (food behavior) and human system (human behavior).
What is quality?
Quality is meeting or exceeding customer and consumer expectations.
2
,Food quality
Business quality
3
, Food production from system perspective
Typical food behavior or technical aspects variation
Typical human behavior or managerial aspects variation
Two technological kinds of variation:
What could be technological aspects that influence food quality during production?
Food properties and decay processes (the food itself) and 2. technological conditions and production
activities (the production processes).
What could be managerial aspects that influence food quality during production?
Human properties and their decisions (the human itself) and 4. the administrative conditions and
management activities (the organisational processes)
Drawing the parallel:
Food properties and decay Human properties and their
processes (the food itself) and 2. decisions (the human itself) and 4.
technological conditions and the administrative conditions and
production activities (the management activities (the
production processes). organisational processes)
Do you see these two different viewpoints now?
Techno-managerial approach
the tecno-managerial approach advocates the importance of understanding the behavior of both food and
human systems and the interdependency.
The technology involves disciplines such as food microbiology, food chemistry, process technology, food
physics, human nutrition, plant and animal science. help to understand the complexity of food systems
Management involves disciplines such as psychology, sociology, economics, mathematics and law. help
in analyzing people’s behavior within the social, organizational, and supply chain context.
The techno-managerial approach differs from a managerial or a technological approach.
A managerial approach typically considers technological aspects as given facts whereas a technological
approach considers management aspects as non-changeable boundary restrictions.
4
