Ethics and trust in quality assurance in a food chain€¦ · • Ethics is key in contemporary systems of quality assurance. • It is especially important in the food chain. •

Ethics and trust in quality assurance in

a food chain

Prof. dr hab. Tadeusz Sikora

Dr inż. Magdalena Niewczas

Dr Anna Prusak

Research objectives

• To present the role of ethics and trust in contemporary systems of

quality management in food supply chain.

• To present the consequences of lack of ethics. Are the food

scares the result of lack of ethics?

• Trying to answer the question: Does ethics should be the basic

rule of food chain operators in line with legal requirements?

Role of ethics in quality management

• Ethics is very important in contemporary management (many

companies have their own standards of ethical conduct for

employees).

• Even best quality management systems cannot work without

ethics.

• Ethical behaviour is a key point in food trading.

Food quality and safety assurance

• Food safety is the most important characteristic of food. It

depends on several factors.

• Legislation should lay down minimum hygiene requirements.

• Official controls should be in place to check food business

operators’ compliance.

• Food business operators should establish and operate food

safety programmes and procedures based on the HACCP

principles. [REGULATION (EC) No 852/2004 OF THE

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 29 April

2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs].

Food standards

• Company are obliged to implement such systems as: GHP, GMP

and HACCP. It is an instrument to help food business operators

attain a higher standard of food safety.

• If they wish, they can also implement ISO 22000, IFS, BRC.

• According to REGULATION (EC) No 852/2004 OF THE

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 29 April

2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs, successful implementation of

the procedures based on the HACCP principles will require the

full cooperation and commitment of food business employees.

• To this end, employees should undergo training.

Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed –

RASFF

• It is a tool to exchange information between competent authorities

on consignments of food and feed in cases where a risk to human

health has been identified and measures have been taken.

• Measures include: withholding, recalling, seizing or rejecting

products.

• This rapid exchange of information allows all Member States, in

real time, to check whether they are also affected and if urgent

action is needed.

• If a risky food or feed product is already on the market and should

not be consumed, the Member States' authorities have the power

to take an array of emergency measures, including giving direct

information to the public.

Ethics of food control

• Food authorities supervise and control the quality and safety of

foodstuffs on the market.

• When a hazard appears, they should immediately take actions to

prevent the spread of food hazard, but sometimes they react too

late.

Examples of unethical practices – falsification

of HACCP records

• The HACCP record is completed by the same person 24/7 every

day a year. This would indicate that they never go home and

never have holidays.

• Records are completed ahead of time – i.e. the person was going

on holidays for 2 weeks and knew that nobody would complete

the forms while they were away.

• Mismatched record entries – documented records do not match

the indications on the equipment. For example, a thermometer

reads to the 0.1oC but all records indicate a rounding to the

nearest whole number.

Examples of unethical practices – fraud and

food adulteration (falsification)

• Food adulteration is unethical behaviour.

• The main reason is higher profit.

• Result – consumer buy a food product of a lower value and with

different ingredients than presented on a food label, or (what is

worse) the added ingredient is a hazard.

Conclusions

• Ethics is key in contemporary systems of quality assurance.

• It is especially important in the food chain.

• Without ethics of actors in the food supply chain, consumers will

loose trust in food.

• Ethics should be the basic rule among food chain operators.

• There should a stronger emphasis on ethics in the food chain.

• Ethical issues should be included in a training plan for employees.

• Unethical practices of food chain operators should be strictly

punished and the public should be informed.

References

European Commission, Food Traceability, June 2007.

P. Pieternel A. Luning, Frank Devlieghere, R. Verhé (eds.): Safety In Agri-Food Chain, Wageningen

Academic Pub, 2006.

Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004.

Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) – role and achievements, European Commission

Memo, Brussels, 20 July 2012.

Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002.

Thank you for your attention