Experience and perceptions of ISO 9000 and HACCP by Hong Kong food and beverage organizations.

• Author: Pun, Maria
• Position: Report

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research is to explore the views of individuals responsible for quality assurance in Hong Kong (HK) food and beverage companies with regards to their acceptance or rejection of the ISO 9000 quality management system or HACCP food safety system standards, along with the reasoning underlying such views. Thirty Hong Kong food or beverage manufacturing companies were approached and in-depth interviews in the form of surveys were conducted with 11 companies. Participating companies included companies that had implemented both the ISO 9000 and HACCP standards, companies that had implemented only ISO 9000 or HACCP, and a company that had implemented neither. Half of the companies that participated in this study were large companies with 500 or more employees. The use of ISO 9000 was reported to improve the maturity of other quality systems. The use of HACCP was reported to improve the maturity of other food safety systems. While more companies used HACCP than the ISO 9000 standard to comply with customers' requirements, the difficulties in the training of staff and added costs for documentation/data storage were reported as common to both standards.

Keywords: Food Industry, HACCP, Hong Kong, ISO 9000, Quality Management System standards, Integrated Management Systems.

INTRODUCTION

The international food trade is expanding due, at least in part, to the continuous promotion of free trade with decreased barriers as well as advances in food technologies which ensure the quality of food products shipped long distances. Every food company is thus faced with competition brought about by local as well as foreign food companies supplying the same or similar products to a given market. To compete for market share, each company has its own strategy to ensure the quality of its products to the greatest extent possible. These strategies commonly involve the use of HACCP and, less commonly, ISO 9000 standards.

At the time of the study, the food and beverage industries in Hong Kong (HK) were largely related to re-export activities, mostly to Mainland China. Domestic food production in HK targets mainly the local food supply, with exports accounting for less than 20 per cent of the total output. However, this quantity is likely to increase, due to both growing international interest in Oriental foods (e.g. soybeans, soymilk, oyster sauces and other condiments) and the increasing number of Chinese people residing in other countries (Trade Development Council 2000). One of the primary factors underlying the competitiveness of Hong Kong businesses in international trade is viewed as total quality management (Gurnani 1999). For this reason, it is important to examine how companies are striving to achieve total quality management.

To improve and ensure the safety of foods produced in Hong Kong for sale domestically and to export markets, HK has been working closely with international organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The growing popularity of food quality/ safety programs such as ISO 9000 and HACCP, combined with the increased emphasis on in-process inspection, led to the active promotion of HACCP by the Health Department of Hong Kong in 1999 (Hong Kong Annual Report 1999). This has been followed by food surveillance and industry-wide promotion programs as initiated by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department in 2000 (Environment and Food Bureau 2000a).

At the time of the study, there was no requirement for food companies in Hong Kong to implement either ISO 9000 or HACCP. For those companies that elected to implement ISO 9000, certification could be achieved through one of six accredited ISO 9000 registrars in HK (Innovation and Technology Commission 2000). Both the government and the food and beverage associations of HK have devoted considerable financial resources to promote the use of HACCP in the food industry.

QUALITY SYSTEMS FOR FOOD COMPANIES

A growing number of food companies now employ one or more quality/safety system(s) in their food practices to appreciate the benefits of decreased reliance on end-point detection and to increase consumer trust and, thus, competitiveness. Quality/safety systems, such as the ISO 9000 series, HACCP, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and Total Quality Management (TQM) are making inroads into food companies worldwide. Since they usually come with a cost, each profit-seeking food company must recognize the balance between those costs and the benefits that result from implementation of these quality/safety systems. Economically, the emphasis on food safety by a company will be set at an equilibrium where the price consumers are willing to pay for increases in safety is balanced by the price at which companies are able to manufacture the product (Tangermann 1986).

ISO 9000

The International Organization for Standardization's ISO 9000 series is recognized throughout the world as a standard for quality management systems. The ISO 9000 series was first published in 1987. The second version, introduced in 1994, consisted of three standards to which companies could register (ie. ISO 9001, 9002, and 9003), depending upon an organization's breadth of activities. The ISO 9000 standards have many benefits and costs associated with them. They require a continual and unbiased assessment of the quality management system in the certified business. Registration requires third-party audits, thereby reducing the need for customers to audit their suppliers. The use of the internationally-recognized ISO 9000 term in advertising may increase competitiveness (Grijspaardt-Vink 1994; Surak and Simpson 1994).

An apparent disadvantage of ISO 9000 lies in the fact that it was designed for general use instead of being specific to the food industry. This allows for considerable leeway in the interpretation of the requirements of the standard. Since ISO 9000 requires that an organization define its own procedures and demonstrate that it can comply with them, this could mean that an organization with specifications for poor quality and/or an unsafe product could still obtain ISO 9000 certification provided that it adhered to such specifications (Mayes 1993). Small companies have reported that the ISO 9000 series presents a barrier to commerce because of the initial cost of implementation as well as the ongoing cost of the third party audits (Golomski 1994). More importantly, ISO 9000 has been criticized for not having adequate customer focus, not addressing product/service excellence, not focusing on continuous improvement, ignoring the scope of the support systems/processes needed for continuous improvement, and not requiring an ongoing evaluation/ improvement of the quality system elements (Corrigan 1994). Many of these disadvantages were addressed by the year 2000 revision of the ISO 9000 series of standards.

HACCP

The objective of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system is cost-effective assurance of food safety. Furthermore, the HACCP system is more than simply basic practices of good hygiene. The system has been described by Untermann (1998, 1999) as an essential component of a total hygiene program, appropriately named the "House of Hygiene" or, later, the "Zurich House of Food Safety". According to this model, the foundation of the house is the condition of the premises and equipment, and the walls frame the well-established fundamental hygiene practices such as cleaning, disinfection, and pest control. The roof consists of product-specific and process-specific measures that are consistent with HACCP principles and are designed to minimize food safety risks for consumers. Developed in the 1960s, HACCP was widely adopted as an international standard for assuring microbial food safety during the late 1980s. All food companies in the EU and all meat, poultry and seafood plants in the United States (or in any country exporting to the U.S.A.) are required to develop an effective HACCP system (Grijspaardt-Vink 1994; Reisman 1998).

HACCP is not only a valuable food safety and quality assurance tool by itself, but it is also readily integrated into more comprehensive quality and safety management systems. As the HACCP program is recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the Codex Alimentarius Commission, HACCP-recognized companies gain competitive advantage by advertising their use of HACCP in day-to-day business. While a growing number of countries adopt HACCP as a requirement in their domestic food production, companies trading with such countries will eventually see HACCP as essential or at least a definite advantage. Since HACCP is a certification that a production process "significantly reduces" pathogens, it also decreases communication costs to the producers about safety. Producers' legal liability is further reduced because of their use of optimal pathogen-reduction processes (Moy et. al. 1994; Roberts et. al. 1996).

Implementation of HACCP requires a significant amount of time and other resources. In the case where food safety is already fully integrated into production decisions, a company may perceive only marginal benefit from implementing HACCP (Roberts et. al. 1996). A company that wishes to implement the system may also encounter other challenges such as a shortage of experts, a lack of commitment, and/or lack of support from top management and production personnel. These may cause problems when designing the process flow diagram, the format and/or scope of the HACCP plan, the number and limits of the critical control points (CCPs), or other elements of the HACCP system (Christian 1994).

AN INTEGRATED APPROACH OF HACCP AND ISO 9000

Integration of the HACCP food safety system and the ISO 9000 quality management system offers an excellent framework for business performance. ISO 9000...