Control Quality from Farm to Fork

This chapter covers the principles of quality management before we look into food safety in more datail in the next chapters. Food production systems consist of several activities beginning with the production of raw materials and ending with the consumption of the food. Foodborne health issues are caused by eating food that is contaminated, with either pathogenic microbes, harmful chemicals, allergens, or pieces of glass, metal or soil, etc. These can contaminate food at any point: during primary production, harvest or slaughter, transportation, food processing, storage, distribution, preparation and serving.

The scope of quality control might be limited to just within a facility. However, in some cases a quality management system might need to consider all the steps from production on farm until the product finally reaches the end consumer, as contamination or spoilage can happen along the whole process from farm to fork. At the end of this chapter, you should be able to describe the key steps and activities involved in producing your product or providing your service and to identify the points where quality could be compromised.