Management

R&D Q.C Production Sales &Purchasing

Test Procedures

Sampling

Reporting and recording

Training line personnel

Complaints

Special problems

Specifications

Figure showing the relationship between Quality Control and other Departments

QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS
1. Nutritional Quality Characteristic: This relates to the nutrients contained or derivable from
the product i.e nutritional value of the food, protein, carbohydrate, vitamins, calorie,
minerals etc.
2. Sanitary Quality Characteristic: It relates to the absence of hazardous materials. Hazards
can be physical (hair strands, metal chips, feather, animal dropping etc), chemical (heavy
metals, cyanide residue etc) or microbiological (bacteria, yeast and mould)
3. Sensory Quality Characteristic: This relates to factors that can be measured using human
sense organs such as colour, taste, aroma, flavor, texture etc. It is also referred to as
‘organoleptic quality characteristic’.

TYPES OF QUALITY PARAMETER

There are two types of quality parameter for foods
i. depending on how the parameter is measured
ii. depending on how the results of measurement are recorded
There are two types which include:
1. Variable
2. Attributes
1. VARIABLES: These are parameters that are measureable or countable and the results are
obtained in figures or in numerical values. They are measured using equipment or
analytical procedures.
ADVANTAGES
a. The measurement is always reliable as long as the equipment is not faulty and all the
analytical methods used are correct.
b. They are reproduceable i.e the results are constant over a period of time and under the same
condition
c. They give adequate information about a product.
There are 2 types of variable quality parameter which include:
i. Discrete variables: these are variables whose results can only be obtained as whole
number. E.g number of defective items in a batch of product.
ii. Continuous variables: these are variables whose results are obtained in fractions,
decimals or percentage e.g protein content of food is 10.5 %, carbohydrate is 60 %,
pasting, functional etc.
2. ATTRIBUTES: These define quality parameters that cannot be measured using equipment
and analytical methods but with human sense organs. The results are recorded as either
‘good or bad’, ‘poor or good’, sweet or bitter etc. They are obtained in form of words or
expression. Such may include; taste, texture, aroma, flavor etc
N.B: Because human senses are subject to errors and bias, attribute quality parameter may not
be reliable as variables.
ADVANTAGES
1. They are very important in determining the quality of foods because they are measured by
the potential consumers
2. Most attributes cannot be measured with equipment.
DISADVANTAGES
1. The results are oftentimes not reproduceable
2. It does not give correct information about the product i.e the degree of ‘goodness’ or
‘badness’ of a product
N.B: There is need to correlate the results of variable (objective) and attribute (subjective)
measurements before decisions are taken.
REASONS FOR GOOD QUALITY
1. It is required by law: various regulatory bodies set different standards for different product
which the manufacturers are expected to adhere to during production. These bodies may
include; SON, NAFDAC, CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION etc. If the law is
gone against, there is appropriate sanction, withdrawal of the product and at times closure
of the premises, blacklisting of product, court cases and seizure of the goods may be carried
out.
2. It is required to protect the reputation of the product and the producer.
3. It pays on the long-run as more profit accrues to the producer because more customers are
buying the product thereby bringing more returns of income.
4. It enhances competitive advantage in International market in which case, the product is
allowed to be sold in international market.
VARIATION IN PRODUCT QUALITY
No two products can exactly be the same; there will always be variation in products but this
must be minimized as much as possible.
Classes of variation
i. Within product: i.e variation in the quality of the products particular with respect to
their quality
ii. Product–to-product: i.e variation in products from the same raw materials at the same
time.
iii. Period-to-period: variation in product made at different time/shift.
Based on these, there are 2 main classes of variation and these include:
(A) Assignable variation (B) Random or chance variation
(A) Assignable variation: These are variations whose causes or sources are known. They are
usually large and removable. They are almost non-existent in product because they can be
rectified.
(B) Random or chance variation: These are variation whose sources and causes are unknown.
They are usually small and difficult to remove.
Sources of variation
There are 5 basic sources of variation and these include:
(1). Raw materials: Food commodities are the major raw materials in food processing and these
have seasonal variations, genetic modification, difference in soil condition etc. The quality of
raw material must be constant and consistent along the food chain.
(2). Processing methods: Different processing methods are adopted depending on the raw
materials available, desired finished product and overall cost of production. Processing method
must be properly monitored because it can adversely affect the quality of the product.
(3). Processing equipment: The equipment used for production must be functional and non-
reactive with the product so that it does not have any adverse effect on the product. Obsolete
equipment must be replaced as soon as possible to prevent downtime.
(4). Environmental factors: These include temperature, humidity, light and rainfall. Changes
in environmental factors will introduce variation into the product. For example, constant
rainfall will affect the drying rate of sundried product and this will introduce variation to the
quality of the product.
(5). Operators: They must be familiar with what constitute quality. They must be carefully
chosen and monitored. They must be willing to adhere to instructions and corrections.
Operators that are knowledgeable able a particular equipment should be allowed to handle
such.
When variations occur in a product, it means the product has not conformed to specification
and it is therefore referred to as being DEFECTIVE. Hence, defective product refers to that
product which does not satisfy consumers’ requirement i.e the product has one form of defect
or another. Limitation on product quality.
A defect is a quality parameter present in a product which will prevent the product from
meeting the consumers’ requirement. There are 3 types of defect depending on the magnitude,
its effect on the product and the reaction of the consumers to the product. These include:
i. Critical defect (ii) Major defect (iii) minor defect
1. Critical defect: This refers to the presence of hazardous materials which can be injurious
consumers’ health. This may have adverse effect on the health of the consumers. Example
include: toxin of microorganism (e.g botulinum toxin), lead poisoning in water, iron
overload, high concentration of cyanide in cassava products etc. this is referred to as ‘Zero
tolerance defect’.
2. Major defects: This is defect that will result in consumers rejecting the product. Examples
include: a bottle of drink with insect part, broken bottles in drink, moldiness in bread,
swollen cans etc
3. Minor defects: These are defects that may not result in rejection of the product but may
reduce the economic value. Examples are low grammage, dent on cans or high moisture
content in flour etc.
N.B: A minor defect can lead to a major defect and a major defect can lead to a critical defect
if not controlled adequately.

ORGANISATION OR SCOPE OF QUALITY CONTROL

There are 3 stages of achieving Quality Control. These are:
(i) Raw material control
(ii) Process control
(iii) Finished product examination
(i) Raw material control: The quality of raw materials, determine the quality of finished
product. Therefore, every aspect of it must be tested. Raw materials must be tested to
be sure they conform to standards. Dominant raw materials must be given priority
attention. This is defined as the raw material which is of greatest quantity and whose
presence will determine the quality of the finished product. For example, the dominant
raw material in soft drink is water while for bread, it is flour. It is important to specify
the standards of dominant raw materials and anyone that does not conform to these
must be rejected. Methods for analyzing the quality parameters must be properly
monitored. Generally, raw materials are classified as primary and secondary. Primary
are those that go into actual processes and come out as finished products e.g, cereals,
legumes, fats, oils, vegetables, fruits etc. While secondary raw materials are those
 which give support or required for packaging such as bottles, cans, labels, crates, pallets
etc.
(ii) Process control: This involves monitoring all processing steps to ensure conformance
to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) or Standard Operating Practices (SOP). All
steps must be monitored but proper attention should be given to critical points must be
properly monitored. Critical point is the point at which entrance of hazards or
contaminants must be prevented which will affect the quality of the finished product.
(iii) Finished product examination: The degree of finished product inspection is a function
of what has happened in the first two stages. This could be either routine or rigorous
exercise i.e a routine inspection is carried out if both the raw material and process
controls have been adequately done while it will be rigorous if the earlier stages are not
properly carried out.
In Quality Assurance and Total Quality Management, finished product examination is
just a routine process.