Food Quality and Safety

Food Quality

1. Consumers concerns have increasingly shifted from the availability of food to food quality, including attributes such as taste, nutritional content, and safety.

a. Stores like the Whole Foods Market show these Trends in this day and age. People are less Price Sensitive today when it comes to the quality of their food. Being more healthy and nutritious is a growing trend amongst our society and many people will pay a little extra to ensure that their food is quality and fresh.

b. Food consumers want assurances that the food they buy and eat will be of the same high quality and safety when consumed as when manufactured

c. They want to be able to trust that the food that they buy is full of quality which means being able to trust the food companies along the food supply chain.

2. Higher transaction costs imply greater incentive to implement quality systems.

Food safety and food quality assurance are forms of guarantees. Safety is defined as the condition of being safe from undergoing or causing hurt, injury or loss (Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, 1990). The assurance of food safety is a guarantee that the food is safe from causing harm. Quality, on the other hand, is not an absolute and is defined as meeting agreed-upon requirements. The assurance of quality is a guarantee that agreed-upon specifications have been met. If safety-related specifications are included in the quality assurance system, then the assurance of quality encompasses safety. Quality and safety attributes

3. Consumers are taking unprecedented interest in the way food is produced, processed and marketed, and are increasingly calling for their Governments to accept greater responsibility for food safety and consumer protection.