Food Control — a new journal

EDITORIALS FOOD CONTROL - a new journal

We believe that this is the ideal time to launch ths new journal FOOD which highlights CONTROL, developments and applications in the food and beverage industries. As we enter the last decade of the twentieth century, we are witnessing some unprecedented changes in consumer attitudes to food safety - from a desire for pesticide/ fungicide-free raw commodities and finished products to tamper protection of packages on the sumpermarket shelves. The increasing focus and scrutiny of all the steps along the food chain to assure safety and quality of the process, and therefore the final product, emphasize the timeliness of the launch of this new journal. We are in an era of evolution in food production, processing and delivery driven by fundamental changes in consumer attitudes, demographics and life-styles. As consumers demand quality, freshness and convenience combined with wholesomeness and nutrition, the food industry in turn is facing the challenge of ever increasing process efficiencies with a wider range of high quality foods. The challenges are compounded by the increasing trade in commodities and finished products across continents with all that that implies in conflicting standards, safety inspection, etc. The responsibility for the delivery of products which are safe, in all dimensions, falls ultimately to those whose names are on the package but the assurance of the safety is totally dependent upon everyone involved in the complex food chain - from farmers and agronomists through food processors to distributors and retailers. Their common aim is to achieve the highest possible standards of safety and quality with an acceptable and viable retain price. Lack of control could mean the loss of confidence and considerable damage to brand reputation. Equalbusinesses ‘Y, well controlled 2

should benefit from increased consumer confidence. The focus on 1992 is already creating many changes to form the single internal common European market. Events of the last year in Eastern European countries indicate that the way is already being opened for further trade in commodities and foodtuffs. But it is not just interdependence of European countries which is to be more openly demonstrated. Countries throughout the world are trading more, and therefore effective food control is the issue. Consumers everywhere will require greater assurances and evidence that their food supply is maintained and decreed safe, and their purchasing power and votes will demonstrate their degree of confidence. This new journal is primarily addressed to managers and all people responsible for ensuring that food is controlled. It will uniquely bring together areas of current research, technology and good practices to allow managers, scientists, technologists and inspectors to implement effective food control for food safety. We believe that the advances which are being made in several fields need to be brought together and that managers responsible for food control and its enforcement should be able to keep abreast of the important developments through this new international journal FOOD CONTROL. It is planned to be an essential information tool for all those involved in controlling food. A well-respected and authoritative world-wide advisory Editorial Board has been brought together from research, academia, industry and control agencies, to guide the policy and coverage of the journal. We welcome contributions of original research papers, of preliminary communications of immediate importance, and of short notes and comments which report on new

developments covering any aspects of food control. Reviews will be commissioned by the editors, and suggestions for review topics are welcome. To help food controllers manage their work more effectively, we will include a calendar of forthcoming meetings of relevance to food control and brief reports of some recent important conferences. We also plan to include information on other important papers on food control which may appear elsewhere. In this first issue, we are pleased to have a contribution from the United Kingdom Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Mr John Selwyn Gummer. Future issues will carry contributions from food control policymakers in different regions of the world. We wish the journal to be a forum for discussion and consensus, and the source of sound basic knowledge which can promote sensible debate. We depend on your suggestions, contributions and inputs to keep it essential reading and we look forward to hearing from you and to receiving your support. The scope and content of the journal has been sub-divided into the following areas by members of the International Editorial .Board: ??good

manufacturing and distribution practices - quality assurance and control ??hazard analysis and risk assessment systems ??optimal food process design and control ??environmental food hygiene and food safety ??codes of practice, legislation and international harmonization ??microprocessors and computing systems applications ??sensors including biosensors ??rapid methods and novel methods of analysis ??education, training and research needs These areas are reviewed following pages.

in the

Geoffrey Campbell-Platt Thomas A. MacMurray Food Control - January 1990

Editorials

Good manufacturing and distribution practices - quality assurance and control Good operational practices based on well thought out principles are a pre-requisite for the successful and smooth running of the food chain from farm gate to the consumer. practice manufacturing Good (GMP) in the food and drink industry has never been more relevant than it is today, be it in the limited application of determining the justification for and level of use of a food additive, or in its much wider application as perceived by the Institute of Food Science and Technology @ST) and its guide to the responsible management of GMP recently published in a second edition. The commitment to a defined policy of GMP supported by a yardstick against which this can be judged ought, in the long term, to help the industry meet present concerns both real and imagined. There are many benefits that result from a wholehearted application of GMP techniques such as a general improvement in product integrity, a reduction in the incidence of both consumer and enforcement authority complaints, and a higher degree of commitment from the workforce involved. Its application is valid whatever the size of the business and its principles are compatible with both traditional and modem management philosophies. GMP couples the application of food science and technology with the recognition of established crafts

and skills and the expertise of management, production, engineering and other disciplines. GMP has two complimentary and interacting components, the effective implementation of well designed manufacturing operations and the effective implementation of food controls (well designed quality assurance/quality control systems). Effective manufacturing operations are achieved by the advanced specification of every aspect of the manufacturing process and provision of adequate facilities, trained operators, and sufficient resources in the right quantities and in the right places at the right times. Effective food control depends on appropriately qualified and experienced food control management competent to define the control system to be used and to monitor that the expected objectives are being achieved. This will include aspects of quality management, personnel and training, documentaand equipment, tion, premises manufacturing operations, recovery of rework and rejection of materials, product recall and emergency procedures, complaints procedures, and contractual obligations. GMP is not a static concept, and the IFST is right to have seen the need for providing the mechanism by which the contents of its guide can be reviewed and updated with the passage of time. In a British and

EEC context, developments concerning the application of the directive for the official control of foodstuffs will be watched with interest. British Standard 5750 on quality systems, although primarily designed for application in the engineering industry, has, in its more recently revised form, commanded attention from other industry sectors including the food industry, especially in relation to Part 2. This standard is now accepted as an IS0 (International Standards Organization) standard (9000 series) and as a CEN (ComitC Europeen de Normalisation) standard and is, therefore, likely to have increasing international significance. Accreditation under Part 2, which deals with quality systems, is certainly increasing, but the standard does not always lend itself to ready interpretation for application in the food and drink industry. Guidelines for such interpretation have recently been published by the Leatherhead Food Research Association, UK, and will prove valuable in demonstrating an outward sign of GMP in this area. FOOD CONTROL will follow developments in good manufacturing and distribution practices and welcomes interchange on these subjects from its readership. K. G. Anderson R. F. Pugh

Hazard analysis and risk assessment systems Formal procedures to identify hazards and to assess their risks (probability of occurrence of a hazard) are increasingly used to assess the potential hazards associated with new additives novel food ingredients, as well as with microbiological and chemical contaminants in foods. Such analyses can only be carried out with a full understanding of the nature and occurrence of the potential hazard, the conditions under which it may become hazardous, and the consequences of the realization of that hazard. Food Control - January 7990

A wide variety of techniques are used to identify and analyse hazards. These include brain-storming, and similar unstructured techniques, where a group of experts look at different aspects of a potential hazard and come up with consensus assessment of its significance through to highly structured systems such as HAZOP (hazard and operability studies). In the latter, a structured multidisciplinary approach is used to systematically ask a series of specific, ‘what if’ questions concerning potential failures in a manufacturing opera-

tion that could lead to a real hazard. Similarly, very different procedures may be used to assess risks. One approach, based on using an assessment of probability, describes the chance that a particular hazard will occur. This can be an effective assessment procedure if the chance of occurrence of a hazard can be accurately defined. The classic example of this in food microbiology is the ‘botulinum cook’ which is a heat treatment designed to assure that the probability of occurrence of Clostridium botuhim in a single container is 3