To know which direction quality management is moving in, we invite you to look back together just as little. Quality management has existed since the beginning of the trade in food products. As a consumer you want to be confident that the food you consume meets the requirements regarding nutrition and safety. Yet it was not until well into the 20th century before the government even stepped in.
So it was quite a long wait until regulation appeared. And it was not until the end of the 20th century that regulation really took off. Partly caused by the rise and growth of factory farming, the critical consumer, the growth of private labels, the globalization of the food chain, etc. Food production has changed enormously in recent decades. While there were still many craft shops 40 years ago, the major retailers have now won the battle for consumers.
When asked where we now stand with quality management, we cannot ignore the following developments: an increasing proportion regards the health (HEALTH) of the consumer. Consumers no longer blindly trust that the food they consume is healthy.
Another development is that of taste (TASTE). It has been clearly demonstrated that consumer tastes change. This means that producers have to continuously develop new recipes that match the taste of the consumer. New products and recipes, in turn, require new raw materials, such as insects, cultured meat, etc. As a quality manager, you must have a clear picture of and control the new risks and dangers.
The third development that we recognize is that of COMPLIANCE. On the one hand, this is complying with laws and regulations, but on the other, COMPLIANCE goes much further than meeting the minimum requirements of the law. Recently, the EU has introduced a Farm To Fork policy. This monitors a policy that also takes into account the impact that production has on the environment. But not only that. The topics of food waste (Food Waste) and food loss (Food Loss) are also included in the policy, as are the way in which the production and logistics chain are designed and are subject to change.
All in all, we have seen the role of the quality manager change more and more over the years. At the end of the last century we were mainly concerned with guaranteeing the quality of our product, today we are also responsible for the safety and health of our employees, the transparency of the chain, the development of the product towards healthy and nutritious and communication with regard to the social responsibility that a food producer should bear.
KTBA knows how to anticipate these developments flawlessly. Partly for this reason, KTBA is investing a lot in digital solutions. Q online follows the production process from raw material to end product. With our digital solution QA Online we support the QA manager with regard to the requirements of transparency and control of hazards and risks.
Business Assurance (BA) monitors the strategic choices that have to be made within every organization, so that the continuity of delivery is guaranteed. With our health and safety services, we help our customers ensure the safety of employees. And last but not least, we in-house have experts who can support you in the field of sustainability. We would like to invite you to gain knowledge about these themes in a casual way within this colorful MaQazine.
We wish you a lot of reading pleasure!