Food Standards and Quality Control Quiz

Importance of Food Quality Control and Assurance

• Access to good quality food has been a human endeavor since ancient times
• Safe food greatly contributes to human health, productivity, and development of the country
• Industrialization and eating out has necessitated the need for quality control regulations and standards in commercial food outlets

History of Quality Control in Ancient India

• Food laws in some form existed as religious tenants or prohibitions in ancient civilizations
• Trade guilds in the middle ages exerted influence on regulating food trade and preventing adulteration
• In the 17th and 18th centuries, chemistry was used as an analytical tool to fight food adulteration
• In the 19th century, industrialization and urban population growth led to changes in food production and distribution, leading to health problems

Importance of Food Quality

• Quality is the ultimate criterion of desirability of any food product
• Overall quality depends on nutritional, sensory, and other hidden attributes
• Absence of nutritional qualities and presence of food toxins/additives can harm the consumer
• Raw material quality is crucial for food manufacturers as it determines the end product quality

Need for Food Laws

• To protect consumers from substandard or adulterated foods
• To implement controls throughout production, handling, processing, and marketing to improve food quality and safety
• To meet sanitary and phytosanitary requirements for market access
• To ensure safety and suitability of foods for consumers

Definitions and Terms

• Food Quality: Characteristics of a food that are acceptable to consumers, including external (appearance, texture, flavor) and internal (chemical, physical, microbial) factors

• Food Quality Assurance: Precision and accuracy in measuring and controlling quality requirements to provide a satisfactory product

• Food Quality Control: Programmed and coordinated activity to maintain and improve the quality of food products### Food Safety

• The basic concept of food safety is ensuring that food, whether fresh or processed, will not harm the consumer if intended guidelines are followed

• Food becomes potentially harmful when exposed to hazardous agents and intended use guidelines have not been followed

• Food safety is a multi-sectoral activity that requires coordination between:

  • Central and state ministries
  • National institutes and laboratories
  • Trader and food industries
  • NGOs
  • Consumers
  • International organizations

Food Standards

• A set of rules or legislation defining criteria such as composition, appearance, freshness, source, sanitation, bacterial count, purity, additive concentrations, etc. that food must fulfill to be suitable for distribution or sale
• Food standards protect consumers from being cheated and provide information for making food choices
• The justification for food standards is:
  • To prevent the transmission or cause of disease
  • To limit the sale of unsatisfying products
  • To simplify the marketing of food

Food Risk and Hazard

• Food risk is the likelihood of a hazardous event occurring after food consumption due to the presence of hazardous materials
• Food hazard is a biological, chemical or physical agent in, or condition of, food reasonably likely to cause illness, injury or adverse health effect in the absence of control

Food Toxicity

• The presence of undesirable non-nutritional substances resulting in potential health risks of different characteristics and magnitude to persons consuming them
• Includes naturally present toxicants, chemical contaminants, environmental contaminants, or toxins released by microbial growth

Prevention of Food Adulteration Act

• Basic statute (PFA Act of 1954 and the PFA Rules of 1955) protecting India against impure, unsafe, and fraudulently labeled foods
• Covers food standards, general procedures for sampling, food analysis, powers of authorized officers, nature of penalties, and other food-related parameters
• Deals with additives, preservatives, coloring matters, packing & labeling of foods, prohibition & regulations of sales, etc.
• Amendments are incorporated based on recommendations of the Central Committee of Food Standards

Fruit Products Order

• Regulates the fruit and vegetable processing sector
• Sets minimum standards for location, sanitary conditions, personnel hygiene, water potability, machinery, quality control, and product standards

AGMARK

• Agricultural Products (Grading and Marketing) Act, 1937
• Voluntary quality assurance scheme for unprocessed, semi-processed and processed agricultural commodities
• Lays down specifications for adulteration-prone items like butter, ghee, vegetable oils, spices, honey, wheat flour, etc.
• Incorporates food safety factors to compete in world trade
• Standards are harmonized with international standards considering WTO requirements
• Quality control through 23 laboratories and 43 offices across the country

Essential Commodities Act

• Regulates the manufacture, commerce, and distribution of essential commodities, including food
• Empowers the government to control production, supply, and distribution of such commodities

Consumer Protection Act

• Introduced in 1986 to safeguard consumer rights and prevent exploitation by businesses
• Provides a 3-tier redressal system at district, state and national levels
• Businesses must replace defective products and compensate consumers for issues

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)

• Formulates Indian Standards in the processed food sector and implements them through voluntary and third-party certification

• Product certification scheme aims to provide quality, safety and dependability assurance to customers

• Presence of BIS Standard Mark on a product ensures conformity to specifications through regular surveillance### BIS Certification for Processed Foods

• BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) certification is more important than AGMARK certification for the processed food sector

• BIS has standards for most processed foods covering:

  • Permitted raw materials and their quality parameters
  • Hygienic conditions for manufacturing
  • Packaging and labeling requirements

• Manufacturers complying with BIS standards can obtain the ISI mark to display on their product packages

• BIS has identified certain items like food colors/additives, vanaspati, and milk powder/condensed milk for compulsory certification

• BIS has granted over 30,000 licenses to manufacturers across industries

• The ISI mark has become synonymous with quality products in the Indian and neighboring markets

BIS Adoption of ISO 9000 Standards

• BIS has adopted the ISO 9000 standards, numbered as:
  • IS/ISO 9000:2000
  • IS/ISO 9001:2000
  • IS/ISO 9004:2000
  • IS/ISO 19011:2002
• These standards are identical to the ISO 9000 standards
• BIS also provides certification against IS/ISO 9001:2000 under its Management Systems Certification activity

BIS Certification Requirements

• Requirements for BIS certification include:
  1. Management responsibility
  2. Quality documentation management system
  3. Contract review
  4. Design control
  5. Data and documentation control
  6. Purchase (materials, skills, and services)
  7. Control of production and data provided by the customer
  8. Product identification and traceability
  9. Control of processing
  10. Inspection and tests
  11. Inspection, measuring, and test instruments
  12. Status of inspection and test procedures
  13. Control of non-conformable products
  14. Corrective and prevention measures
  15. Processing, storage, packing, conservation, and supply
  16. Quality assurance documentation archive
  17. Internal quality supervision
  18. Training
  19. Service and maintenance
  20. Statistical methods

BIS Food Standards

• BIS publishes standards for food under the Food and Agriculture Department (FAD)
• There are 2,108 published standards under FAD

Test your knowledge of food standards and quality control in this quiz, covering importance, regulations, and more.