Keeping quality contained
by Gilla Brunt

Dairy processing is a sensitive business, mainly due to the fact that the core ingredient, milk, is prone to contamination and spoilage. Every ingredient and every step of the process has to be carefully monitored to ensure that the final product is safe for the consumer. However, manufacturing a safe product is not the end of the line: the product still has to reach the consumer in perfectly good order, which is why package integrity is yet another critical aspect of this business.

Joel Fischer of the American instrumentation company, Moicott, explains that “package integrity refers to the quality of the product in obtaining the measured shelf life.”

This is a fairly simple, yet comprehensive statement, although it has implications beyond what one might consider at first glance.
Due to the high importance of food safety, the integrity of dairy product packaging is essential not only to prevent wastage of the product, but with the advent of the new Consumer Protection Act (CPA) it is now even more important to limit possible liabilities due to compromised food safety as a result of inferior packaging.

Find out more

Producing safe foods
by Fidelis Zvomuya

“A food safety crisis is a crisis of confidence, which leads to distrust in the food safety and quality assurance system, as well as a general distrust of the brand. Inspiring consumer confidence in the safety of the food product is therefore imperative for food companies."

Eugene Engelbrecht, a consultant with ASI Food Safety Consultants, says that in today’s market, a company’s reputation rests on the quality and safety of its products.
“The value of the brand name is a hostage to quality control. A company would suffer enormous damage if it fails to maintain the quality of its products,” he says, adding that history shows that companies that have issued product recalls not only endure financial crises, but often struggle to regain customer confidence.

A critical condition
Food safety refers to the production of food that is safe for human consumption throughout the shelf life of the product. Not only are consumers everywhere demanding safe food of excellent quality that they can consider value for money, but in South Africa the implementation of the new Consumer Protection Act means that every organisation along the production value chain is liable for any defects that might manifest in the final product.

Find out more