Organisations looking to develop their business operations through the current volatile economic climates need to establish clear objectives as to how the various elements of the business need to perform to ensure continuing growth and viability. In order to achieve these objectives it is further imperative to have mechanisms in place to monitor performance and also to provide a process by which change can be implemented in those areas of activity which need strengthening. Total Quality

Chapter13 has outlined the concept of hygienic design'and hygienic practices'in controlling the safety of chilled food products. This chapter deals with hygienic practices, specifically those related to cleaning and disinfection. Contamination in food products may arise from four main sources: the constituent raw materials, surfaces

The primary concern of chilled food manufacturers is to produce a product that is both wholesome, i.e. it has all the fresh, quality attributes associated with a chilled food, and safe, i.e. free from pathogenic microorganisms and chemical and foreign body contamination. This is particularly important in this product ector as, due to the nature and method of production, many chilled foods are classified as high-risk products

Quality is an essential feature that will lead the consumer to select or not any food product. With numerous food scares that have hit the food market in the UK and Europe (E. coli, BSE, genetically modified organisms-based products, dioxins in animal feed in Belgium)consumers have become much more aware

Many different ingredients and raw materials are processed to make chilled foods. At harvest or slaughter these materials may have a wide range of microbes in or on them. Some of them carry the micro-organisms that cause their eventual spoilage(e.g. bacilli or Lactic acid bacteria) whilst others pick them up during harvesting or processing

All food products are susceptible to deterioration in their quality during storage. Chilled foods in particular are highly perishable and the time during which the quality is maintained at a consumer acceptable standard can be termed the shelf-

As the chilled foods market has expanded and become more competitive, so have the demands for diversity, quality and longer shelf-life. Meeting these demands in a responsible, safe and cost-effective manner requires the application of an understanding of the factors that affect product safety and quality. Many problems can be avoided by applying this knowledge to a formalised HACCP approach to identify critical control points relating to quality

The detection and enumeration of microorganisms either in foods or on food contact surfaces forms an integral part of any quality control or quality assurance plan. Microbiological tests done on foods can be divided into two types:(a) quantitative or enumerative, in which a group of microorganisms in the sample are counted and the result is expressed as the number of the organisms present

Chilled foods represent a large and rapidly developing market with an extremely wide range of food types. Traditionally these were simple meat, poultry, fish and dairy products but recent trends have moved towards a greater variety and more complex products (Stringer and Dennis 2000). As more innovative products are produced, the variety of ingredients have also increased. Many of these ingredients are sourced around the world and relatively little may be known about their

During recent years there has been a greatly increased consumer demand for perishable chilled foods which are perceived as being fresh, healthy and convenient. The major food retailers have satisfied this consumer demand by providing an ever increasing range of value-added chilled food products. The wide diversity of chilled foods available is accompanied by a huge range of packaging materials and formats which are used to present attractively packaged foods in retail chill cabinets. This chapter overviews the requirements and types of packaging materials and formats which are commonly utilised for a broad