Food Quality Control Systems and Guidelines, Explained

The food and beverage industry is one of the most heavily regulated worldwide because it is one of the most fragile. These perishable items need a lot of oversight to keep humans healthy and nourished. Therefore, robust food quality control systems need to exist to promise humanity’s trust in what they purchase. What are some of the systems that exist today and how does the industry put them into practice?

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP)

This is a worldwide food quality control system, analyzing a wide array of food safety concerns from chemical, biological, physical and more. It is one of the most influential in the space, as its guidance is the foundation for countless subsequent frameworks. It operates under seven guiding principles:

1. Conduct hazard analysis.
2. Identify critical control points.
3. Establish critical limits for each critical control point.
4. Establish critical control point monitoring requirements.
5. Establish corrective actions.
6. Establish procedures for ensuring the HACCP system is working correctly.
7. Establish record-keeping procedures.

This promises food quality stays secure from every step of the process. It doesn’t start and stop at raw material production. It continues throughout distribution and even until it hits the consumer. Every step in the process has a responsibility to abide by these controls to clarify concerns and tackle them before it becomes unmanageable. 

Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs)

GMPs are less focused on the food product itself and more about guiding employees in the sector to practice hygiene and sanitation. Naturally, these influence food quality by impacting public safety. The GMPs detail how the food and beverage sector should isolate pests, store food, clean equipment and more. It qualifications are designated by parts, which include:

• Buildings and facilities
• General provisions
• Production and processes
• Equipment
• Defect action levels

Under each of these categories are definitions and expectations for the various processes involved in food quality, such as blanching and how to maintain food preparation surfaces.

ISO 22000

ISO is one of the most powerful regulatory agencies on the planet, focusing in every field from food to cybersecurity. It is also one of the most comprehensive and competitive to earn, and ISO 22000 is all about food safety management in supply chains. The insights from HACCP are present here. The beauty of ISO is it regularly updates its protocols based on industry-leading recommendations. This is why operations seeking ISO certification need to receive audits regularly to ensure they are aware of current practices.

International Featured Standards (IFS)

These are generalized food safety standards everyone in the food and beverage sector can follow. However, it is most recognized to those in Europe, as it is a part of the Global Food Safety Initiative. Much like most of these certifications, it includes regular audits to ensure qualifying bodies maintain code. 

While the safety oversight includes consumer products and manages how logistics and transporters handle the food, the IFS also expands its scope to even more food products, such as pet food.

British Retail Consortium (BRC) Global Standards

The BRC expands its oversight into several realms. It covers standards for food quality, but it more interestingly covers legal concerns arising from the industry. It is predominantly used in the UK, but it is an internationally recognized framework retailers refer to. 

The guidelines attempt to create a culture as well as a set of rules to follow so everyone from a manufacturer to a quick-service restaurant can adopt them authentically. It is recognized by other standards entities, like GFSI.

Safe Quality Food (SQF)

Speaking of the GFSI, they acknowledge the value of the SQF framework. Much like a lot of these standards, it is also inspired by the HACCP ideals. It is a holistic approach to food quality control systems, analyzing everything from farmlands to cooking utensils. Some of the topics it covers include but are not limited to:

• Ingredient manufacturing
• ANimal feed manufacturing
• Catering operations
• Consumer packaging

CanadaGAP

The CanadaGAP is another HACCP-inspired food safety standard. Many of its guiding rules overlap with international standards. It also looks at the food system from start to finish and analyzes it not based on specific processes but aspects of production. 

It starts by looking at greenhouse and field activities, ensuring everything is certified. Then it moves to how the food is harvested and packaged, making sure its storage will make it to destinations safely. The certification would have companies grade, sort and repackage products for quality control. Then, wholesale and brokerage occurs, which is also overseen by this certification.

Japan Agricultural Standard (JAS)

The JAS is another comprehensive but more regionally specific food safety quality control system. It is only a requirement for specific food products sold in the country. It covers worker safety, food quality and how packages should be labeled to represent their contents. 

There are separate designations in the JAS system for organic food. The products that must carry a seal here include plant-based and livestock products. Processed foods or drinks like alcohol cannot carry this seal per the standards. Nations shipping products to Japan need to pay attention to exporting rules.

Food Quality Controls Systems in the Future

These are not perfect systems, and they will always grow with humanity’s needs and modern expectations. Increasing awareness of these regulations makes people more aware of how and why they are able to eat what they get at the grocery store. They will only get more comprehensive as time goes on, as agencies respond to feedback and societal concerns regarding food quality.