statistical quality control for the food industry

[...]... The "Food Processing Industry Quality System Guidelines" was prepared for the American Society for Quality Control in 1986 Prior to that time, the Society, the professional organization dedicated to promotion of quality control in industry, had no recommendations specifically for the food industry 15 Perhaps a more common reason for the lack of system emphasis of quality is that the techniques of statistical. .. obvious example of food quality control is the safety of foods in the United States There are 290 million people in this country who eat a total of about 870 million meals a day, or 318 billion meals annually A benchmark study made by the Center for Disease Control analyzed the numbers and causes for food outbreaks across the country for an entire year They found 460 reported outbreaks of food poisoning,... steps 2-6 above The system is explained in detail in Chapter 16 Other Quality Programs Since the 1980s, several additional techniques have been offered with the goal of improving quality control programs For the most part, they are business process tools rather than statistical quality control techniques, but have often had favorable effects on both productivity and product quality Some of the many examples:... by the fluctuating value of the dollar against foreign currencies (Merrill Lynch Global Investment Strategy, 21 March 1995; also the Japan Business Information Center; Keizai Koho Center.) The quality control and the quality level in the United States are not necessarily inferior, as implied by the cold numbers Perhaps the impression that our manufacturing industry is about to be taken over by the. .. others) and by state and local agencies (Weights and Measures, Public Health, and others) Therefore, there is no need to further formalize quality procedures (Untrue!) • A food processing company could not remain in business unless its quality systems were adequate It might be risky to change the existing system (Head in the sand!) • It is necessary to remain flexible in the food business so that the. .. improve quality QUALITY CONTROL PROGRAMS The Shewhart control- chart technique was developed in 1924, and has been in use continuously since then Perhaps the only fundamental change in the Shewhart chart was the simplification evolved by mathematical statisticians by which control charts could be simply determined using the range of observations, rather than the more time-consuming calculations for standard... Industry Quality System Guidelines The generic guidelines for quality systems developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI Z 1.15) provides an excellent basis for establishing effective quality control systems, but is geared more toward hardware manufacture than food processing A committee of food quality experts, chaired by Sydney Pearce, restructured this standard for use by the food. .. standard manuals The Quality Department in a food manufacturing company may be the last one to assemble a written system There are perhaps more excuses than reasons for this: • The products change from year to year, and someone would have to be retained on the Quality Department payroll just to keep up with the paperwork (Unrealistic!) • The food industry is regulated by federal agencies (Food and Drug,... the proven data, the 460 figure, expressed as percent product failure, indicates (460 X 100)7318,000,000,000 = 0.000000147% It is difficult to find another country which has achieved that kind of record for any product in any industry If the record for food quality is so superb, why this book? Because the need to improve quality control is unending The safety appears adequate, but there are always...Contents Preface to the Third Edition ix Preface to the Second Edition xi Preface to the First Edition xiii Acknowledgments xv 1 Introduction 1 Variability 2 Quality Control Programs 3 Problems with Tool Selection 8 Quality Control Tools 8 2 Food Quality System 15 The Formalized Quality System 15 Quality System Guidelines . Statistical Quality Control for the Food Industry was printed, the statistics involved in the quality control of food has not changed. Sigma is still sigma; the mean remains the mean probability are still the same. The seven basic tools of statistical quality control still work. Control charts still supply the information to control the process—although now the computer . R. Statistical quality control for the food industry/ Merton R. Hubbard—3rd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-306-47728-9 1. Food industry and trade Quality