Quality Assurance

Obviously no one can have a perfect product, but the goal of all companies should be to produce quality products. Quality is putting the best possible product together, and doing it consistently.

Creating Quality

Every company has constraints that must be dealt with. You may not always be able to afford the best possible ingredients, or you may not be able to obtain enough. Equipment isn't perfect or exact, and it does break down.

With problems like these, you need to set up a program that will help you maximize the quality of your products.

Quality in a food product includes:

• consistency;
• food safety;
• physical appearance;
• value;
• nutrition; and
• shelf life.

Quality Control

Quality control-through proper production and quality inspections-prevents unsatisfactory products from being delivered to customers. Quality control is primarily the responsibility of your production staff, and should be built into the manufacturing process.

Your employees need to have access to the proper tools and training. This will enable them to maintain product specifications through effective monitoring and decision making.

Quality Assurance

Quality assurance establishes written specifications and standards. This preventative measure is the responsibility of management, which must put in place the necessary programs for producing a quality product each and every time.

Quality assurance is also an important aspect of your company's marketing activities. Future sales are directly and significantly affected by the level of quality and consistency of your product. Consumers won't want to deal with other companies once you have built a solid reputation for the quality and dependability of your product.

A quality product begins with quality ingredients. You need to work closely with your suppliers to ensure that they all meet your tight standards. These should be created for ordering raw materials, packaging materials and other supplies.

You can test quality either subjectively or objectively, depending on the factor being measured.

Objective Testing

There are several ways to test objectively. Some examples include:

• weight and/or volume checks;
• colour analysis;
• particle size analysis;
• viscosity measurements;
• homogeneity checks;
• water activity; and
• presence of foreign objects.

• protein, fat and moisture contents;
• pH check;
• residue analysis; and
• vitamin levels.

Microbial tests:

• total plate count;
• moulds and yeast;
• coliform count;
• thermophile and thermoduric count; and
• salmonella presence.

For objective testing, you may need simple test equipment such as a weight scale or a pH meter. On the other hand, you might have to use expensive and complex equipment such as a high-pressure liquid chromatograph (HPLC) or a sophisticated spectrophotometer (which measures colour).

Throughout the food industry, literally thousands of tests are used routinely to monitor product quality.

Subjective Testing

A number of different sensory tests are used to measure food quality subjectively. Although the use of the human palate and nose for measuring flavour and aroma quality is often not as consistent as chemical testing, in many cases it will give a more appropriate qualitative analysis.

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Quality Testing Accuracy

A test can only be as accurate as its sample, so proper sampling is vital to proper quality testing. Many people not fully familiar with the science of sampling inadvertently bias the results by inappropriately collecting a sample.

You must take care to ensure that:

• the sample avoids contamination from other sources;
• the sample is representative of the entire batch;
• the sample doesn't lose the characteristic properties during its collection, handling, transport and storage before testing; and
• the sampling utensils and container remain free of extraneous materials.

Quality Testing Laboratories

The Resources section of this guide includes a partial list of laboratories that provide quality testing services. For the names of other quality testing labs that operate in Ontario, contact the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Food Industry Competitiveness Branch, at 1-888- 466-2372.

Quality Programs

The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system is a way of analyzing a food processing system to identify potential hazards to food safety. We have already discussed the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affair's HACCP Advantage Program in Part 2: Your Responsibilities and Obligations of this guide.

ISO 9000:2000

ISO 9000 is a series of standards designed to prove that organizations meet global benchmarks in the consistency and quality of their goods and services. These standards can be applied to almost any business and style of management.² A revised core series of the ISO family of international standards was published in December 2000 under the name ISO 9000:2000.

The ISO 9000 standards measure suppliers' systems rather than specific products or services. Suppliers are successful when they can prove that they have carefully documented their processes and follow their systems consistently.

As more and more countries adopt these standards as national standards, ISO 9000 is becoming necessary to compete in the global marketplace. Many domestic and global customers are starting to demand that Canadian suppliers adopt the standards.

Nationally registered suppliers are licensed to use an ISO 9000 registration mark in marketing and communications efforts to capitalize on their improved quality systems. Registered businesses are also listed in a directory that is widely available to public, corporate and retail buyers.

Once you can conform to your systems, you can apply to a third-party registration organization accredited by a national accreditation body such as the Standards Council of Canada. The organization will assess your quality system, identify areas for improvement and then assess the workplace to confirm that the quality management system is being followed.

² Let's Talk Business. "ISO 9000: Improving quality is the bottom line." Supply and Services Canada and Industry Canada. SQI 01 (06/93)

For more information, contact:

You can also get information through any of the Business Development Bank's 22 offices in Ontario.

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Product Certifications

The two most common kinds of product certification are Halal and kosher.

Halal

Halal is an Arabic word meaning lawful or permitted. When used in relation to food or drink, Halal means it is permitted and fit for consumption by Muslims.

For a product to be Halal, it must, as a whole and in part:

• be free of, and not containing any substance or ingredient taken or extracted from a haram (forbidden or unlawful) animal or ingredient;
• be made, processed, produced, manufactured and/or stored by using utensils, equipment and/or machinery that has been cleansed according to Islamic law;
• have never come into contact with, touched or been close to a haram substance during preparation, making, production, manufacture, processing and/or storage.

Islamic Social Service and Resources Association
www.issra.ca
2375 Sinclair Avenue West
Toronto, Ontario M6N 1K9
Tel: 416-767-9358 or 416-767-1531
Fax: 416-767-0328

Islamic Society of North America—Canada HQ
www.isnacanada.com
2200 South Sheridan Way
Mississauga, Ontario L5J 2M4
Tel: 905-403-8406 or 416-626-0001
Fax: 905-403-8409

Kosher

Kosher food is made fulfilling the requirements of Jewish law. The basic concepts of kosher food are no mixing of dairy and meat, no pork or pork products and no shellfish.

This also applies to food products containing such ingredients. For example, a food colouring made from a shellfish would be considered unkosher and would taint a food in which it was used. Similarly, using an animal fat together with dairy ingredients renders the product unkosher and taints even the implements used to make it.

For information about kosher certification, contact:

Product Specifications

Specification sheets are an essential part of a quality product. The sheets are used to ensure that the products leaving the processing plant are of the required quality. They contain detailed specifications about packaging, storing, cooking, ingredients, physical appearance and batch processing.

Specification sheets are used for:

• standard procedures;
• raw material specifications;
• finished product standards;
• daily formulation records; and
• product inspection reports.

Product that is Off Specification

Options for dealing with product that is off specification-that is, it doesn't meet the required specifications-include:

• lireprocessing the material;
• selling the material to a processor of animal feed;
• disposing of the substandard material;
• donating the material to charitable organizations; or
• blending the off-grade material with subsequent batches.

Health Canada
www.hc-cs-gc.ca
Food Inspection Branch
Tel: 416-973-1600

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Sanitation in Food Processing

A good sanitation program is crucial to the success of your business. Sanitation is affected by everything from the design of your facility to food handling practices, controlled processing procedures and a pest-control management system.

John A. Troller, in his book Sanitation in Food Processing (Second Edition, Academic Press, Inc., 1993), describes the purpose of a sanitation program this way:

The goal of any sanitation program should be to provide a clean manufacturing operation capable of producing wholesome and safe products. The program should provide guidance and training for employees in good sanitary practices and should be able to identify process stages that are pivotal in producing acceptable products. Last, the program should keep management informed of the sanitary condition of the plant and its workers.

Troller includes the following topics under the term "sanitation":

• hazard avoidance;
• quality management;
• cleaning;
• personal hygiene;
• the control of insects, rodents and birds in the food environment;
• sanitary aspects of food plant design;
• sanitation of raw materials;
• equipment and process sanitation;
• packaging sanitation;
• sanitation during food transport; and
• food regulations.

The Code of Practice

Your best guideline as a food processor in Canada is the Code of Practice, General Principles of Food Hygiene for Use by the Food Industry in Canada. This code is intended to help you comply with the requirements of Canadian food law.

The code "recommends general hygienic practices for use in handling (including growing and processing, packaging, storage, transport, distribution and sale) of food for human consumption in order to ensure a safe, sound and wholesome product."

The code covers the following topics:

1. Hygiene requirements in the production/harvesting area—

• environmental hygiene in areas from which raw materials are derived;
• harvesting and production; and
• storage at the place of production/harvesting.

• location;
• buildings and facilities;
• sanitary facilities, including water supply, rest rooms and toilets,
lighting and ventilation; and
• equipment and utensils.

• maintenance;
• cleaning and disinfecting;
• hygiene control program;
• storage and disposal of waste;
• pest control;
• storage of hazardous substances; and
• personal effects and clothing.

• hygiene training;
• injuries;
• washing of hands; and
• personal cleanliness.

• raw material requirements;
• use of water;
• processing;
• packaging;
• lot identification;
• processing and production records; and
• storage and transport of the end product.

• individual responsible for quality control; and
• laboratory procedures for quality control.

• sampling procedures;
• analytical methodology; and
• limits for acceptance.

• A procedure to permit the complete, rapid recall of any lot of the
finished food from the market.

You can get a copy of the Code of Practice from:

Health Canada
Health Protection Branch
Ontario Regional Office
2301 Midland Avenue
Scarborough, Ontario M1P 4R7
Tel: 416-973-1600
Fax: 416-973-1554

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Developing a Sanitation Program

The best people to ask for help in developing a sanitation program are the various government inspectors that would be inspecting your business. Many people treat them as unwanted guests and intruders, but their interest is in the safety of the buying public, and their approach is preventative in nature, not punitive. An inspector can point you to many relevant resources.

Federal and provincial inspection departments are key contacts. You can also contact:

Health Canada is responsible for plants that produce food products not covered by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. (Contact information is included previously in this section of the guide.)

Some private firms can help you to establish or assess a sanitation program. Check with industry associations; some of them will be able to give you referrals. Contact:

Ontario Food Protection Association
P.O. Box 24010
Guelph, Ontario N1E 6V8
Tel: 519-463-6320
Fax: 519-463-6321
E-mail: ofpa-info@worldchat.com

Sub-sector associations may also have their own sanitation programs or information. Contact:

Ontario Food Processors Association
7666 Mill Road, R.R. # 4
Guelph, Ontario N1H 6J1
Tel: 519-767-5594
Fax: 519-763-4164
E-mail: ofpa@sentex.net

Ontario Dairy Council
www.ontariodairies.ca
6533 Mississauga Road, Unit D
Mississauga, Ontario L5N 1A6
Tel: 905-542-3620
Fax: 905-542-3624

Baking Association of Canada
www.baking.ca
7895 Tranmere Drive, Suite 202
Mississauga, Ontario L5S 1V9
Tel: 905-405-0288
Fax: 905-405-0993
E-mail: info@baking.ca

Companies that sell approved cleaning chemicals can also help you establish a sanitation program.
For other contacts, see the Resources section of this guide under Food Safety Information Sources.

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