ABSTRACT
The need to address both food safety and food quality concerns has become increasingly important to the food industry in general. There have been several contributing factors: increasing awareness of consumers to the importance of nutrition in prevention of certain diseases, health risks associated with residues in certain foods, the availability of a wide variety of foods to consumers and the resulting level of competitiveness in the food industry, stringent government regulations relating
to the composition of food products and food additives, nutritional labeling requirements, international competitive factors relating to regional trade agreements, and environmental issues. Additionally, there is a danger of losing customer confidence and future demand for products, thus affecting the success of businesses, if quality and safety of their products are compromised. As a result, food manufacturers must now address concerns that traditionally were only peripheral to the scope of their operations, in addition to their traditional issues. This applies almost universally to all sectors of the food processing and manufacturing industry.
