The document discusses the importance of quality assurance systems in the food industry, highlighting regulatory bodies and standards that govern food safety. It outlines the roles of organizations like the FAO, WHO, and WTO in establishing and enforcing international food quality norms and standards. Additionally, it emphasizes the significance of compliance with these standards to ensure consumer safety and facilitate international trade.

1. Quality Assurance
Chapter Four
Lecture 6

2. Organisms and legislative norms which are formulating and controlling the
quality assurance systems
 In recent years there has been growing pressure for consistent
product quality. Moreover, there is a need for food industries to
demonstrate quality management practices in order to meet
requirements of both legislation and the quality demanded by
consumers.

3. Conti…..
• Quality assurance is the term used for describing the control, evaluation
and audit of a food processing system. Its primary function is to provide
confidence for management and the ultimate customer, that is, in most
cases the consumer. Consumers expect consistent quality products that
offer absolute safety. This is reflected on steady increase in the
involvement of regulatory and advisory bodies in the area of food quality.
(Gould and Gould, 1988).

4. Conti……
• Food quality assurance systems are necessary at every stage of the food chain
and in every sector of the food industry to ensure the quality and safety of food.
Governments have the responsibility of establishing the standards, legislation and
enforcement programmes necessary to control food quality and safety.
• On the other hand, the industry has the responsibility of implementing quality
assurance systems, where necessary to ensure compliance with the standards
and legislation

5. International Food Standards
• Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
• The FAO was founded in 1945 with a mandate to raise levels of nutrition and
standards of living, to improve agricultural productivity, and to better the
condition of rural populations.
• There is a Food and Nutrition Division that includes the Food Safety and Quality
Service (ESNS) that among others maintains liaison on technical matters relating
to food safety, quality and consumer protection.

6. World Health Organisation (WHO)
WHO is the United Nations agency with a specific mandate for the protection of
public health. Its role in food safety is to protect the consumer against exposure to
adverse effects from hazards in food.
Its Constitution, article 2, gives a mandate to develop, establish and promote
international standards with respect to food. This organization has always
recognized that access to adequate, nutritious and safe food is a right of each
individual.
Conti…

7. Conti…
• World Trade Organization (WTO)
• The World Trade Organisation was established in 1995. The WTO is
the legal and institutional foundation of the multilateral trading
system. It provides the principal contractual obligations determining
how governments frame and implement domestic trade legislation
and regulations.

8. Conti….
• It is the platform on which trade relations among countries evolve
through collective debate, negotiation and adjudication. The WTO
aims to eliminate all trade barriers eliminating all discriminative
measures.

9. Conti….
• Two of the WTO agreements, namely the Agreement on Sanitary and
Phytosanitary Standards (SPS Agreement) and the Agreement on
Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement), have a direct impact on
food safety issues (GATT 1994a, GATT 1994b).

10. Conti….
• The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary
Measures (SPS) concerns the application of food safety and animal
and plant health regulations.
• The main purpose is to ensure that countries do not undermine
international trade by imposing non-tariff barriers.

11. Conti….
• The basic provisions of the SPS Agreement are that any measures that
may affect international trade must not be stricter than necessary for
the protection of human, animal or plant health, must be based on
scientific principles, and must not be maintained without sufficient
scientific evidence (GATT 1994a, GATT 1994b).

12. Conti…
• FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius
• The Codex Alimentarius Commission is a body set up to establish
minimum standards for international trade. It is intended that
compliance with Codex requirements should safeguard the integrity
of the food in question, and preclude trade barriers preventing its
entry to any participating country.

13. Conti…
• There are numerous Codex standards covering general requirements and
guidelines (food hygiene) and specific requirements for food products (fruits
and vegetables, fruit juices, cereals, fat and oils, fish, meat, sugars, milk).
• The FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Committee specifically concerned with
food hygiene is the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH).

14. Conti….
• This Committee has developed the following standards.
• General Principles of Food Hygiene (Codex Alimentarius, 1997a)
• Revised Guidelines for the Application of the Hazard Analysis and
Critical Control Point (HACCP) (Codex Alimentarius, 1997b).

15. Conti….
International Standards Organization (ISO)
• ISO is a network of the national standards institutes of 150 countries, on the basis
of one member per country, with a Central Secretariat in Geneva, which co-
ordinates the system.

16. Conti…
• The ISO 9000 series of standards is the International Standard for
Quality Management Systems, which is: Designed to demonstrate a
supplier ́s/manufacturer ́s/service ́agent ́scapability to control the
processes that determine the acceptance of the product supplied.
• Aimed at prevention and detection of nonconformity and the
implementation of means to prevent its recurrence.

17. Conti…….
• The ISO 9000 series were developed in 1987, and also in that year it was
adopted by CEN, the European Committee for Standardization, as EN
29000 (Surak, 1992). In 1994, they were updated (ISO, 1999).
• In 2000 it was further updated and republished as ISO 9001:2000 that
establishes the quality management systems requirements. It is interesting
to note that the requirement for ISO 9001 standard is becoming common
worldwide

18. • ISO standards are voluntary. As a non-governmental organization, ISO
has no legal authority to enforce their implementation.
• A certain percentage of ISO standards as ISO 9000 are referred to in
legislation of some countries.
Conti…