Understanding the Relevance of Quality Management in Agro-food Product Industry: From Ethical Considerations to Assuring Food Hygiene Quality Safety Standards and Its Associated Processes
Charles Odilichukwu R. Okpala, Małgorzata Korzeniowska
Abstract
The continuous improvement in good practices and implementation of hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) remains very crucial for food hygiene quality safety to steadily thrive in the agro-food product industry sector. To improve the agro-food product quality, the dependency of quality management (QM) on such key facets as quality assurance (QA), control, improvement, and planning appears to be on the rise. Herein, how food hygiene quality safety standards and their associated processes have been assured is described. To understand the relevance of QM in the (above-mentioned) processes, we discuss some ethical quality considerations, food quality safety standards, HACCP fundamentals/implementation, QA control systems, other quality standards associated with agro-food industry, together with supplementary essentials associated with quality. Through the combined efforts of HACCP and QA control points (QACP) such as improved food hygiene, both quality, and safety levels can be further enhanced and sustained. Establishing the QM system within a given agro-food product enterprise is not the real deal, what matters most is how to maintain and sustain it. Some challenges encountered during the auditing/implementation processes of food safety management systems, as well as directions for future studies, involving QM, QA, and food hygiene quality safety, are presented.