Food Quality Systems and Operations Management Flashcards

This flashcard set covers the essential vocabulary and concepts from the lecture on Food Quality Management, including operations, traceability, and statistical control systems.

Food Quality Management

A discipline consisting of two basic components: physical aspects of food quality and managing the people who have to realize it.

Technological part of food quality

Refers to the range of static product properties (e.g., sugar content, pH) and dynamic product properties (e.g., microbial growth).

Human part of food quality

Refers to human behavior resulting from decision-making, influenced by management systems, motivation, and ability.

Perception

The process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information, derived from the Latin 'perceptio' meaning 'receiving' or 'taking possession'.

Quality attributes

Properties of a product that contribute to the perceived quality, noticeable through sensory observation or communication.

Intrinsic attributes

Attributes inherent to the physical product, such as taste, texture, safety, or health, resulting from physicochemical properties.

Extrinsic attributes

Attributes relating to production and marketing aspects, such as animal welfare, sustainability, and brand image, which influence consumer perception.

Food safety

Defined as the absence of hazards, focusing on biological, chemical, and physical sources of danger below acceptable risk limits.

Food infection

An illness caused by the ingestion of pathogens themselves, such as Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli.

Food intoxication

A health disorder resulting from toxins produced by pathogens present in the food product, such as aflatoxins from Aspergillus flavus.

Shelf life

The time during which a food product remains safe, keeps desired sensory and chemical characteristics, and complies with label declarations.

Maillard reaction

A complex set of chemical reactions, also known as non-enzymatic browning, involving proteins or amines and carbohydrates.

Climacteric products

Fruits such as apples and bananas that undergo a rapid ripening phase triggered by the natural production of ethylene and an increase in respiration.

Non-climacteric products

Fruits such as strawberries and pineapple that have a more gradual process of maturation and ripening without a rapid ethylene-triggered onset.

Composite product

A foodstuff intended for human consumption containing both processed products of animal origin and products of plant origin.

Traceability

The ability to trace and follow a food, feed, food-producing animal, or substance through all stages of production, processing, and distribution.

Tracking

The determination of the ongoing location of items during their movement through the supply chain.

Tracing

The process of defining the composition and treatments an item has received during various stages in the production life cycle.

Information decoupling point (IDP)

The point where detailed information is left at a supplier's site and only aggregated information accompanies the product, linked by codes or certificates.

Identity Preservation (IP)

A system of crop or raw material management that preserves the identity of the source or nature of the material, such as separating GMO from non-GMO.

Operations Management

The practice of getting the right product, in the right quantity, quality, and sustainability, at the right time and place as cost-efficiently as possible.

Supply Chain

A goal-oriented network of processes and stockpoints used to deliver goods and services to customers.

Throughput (TH)

The rate of good (non-defective) entities processed per unit time.

Cycle Time (CT)

The time between the release of an entity into the production line and its completion or exit from the line.

Work in Process (WIP)

The inventory currently held within a production line, excluding raw materials or finished goods inventory.

Little’s Law

The fundamental principle stating that over the long-term, average WIP, throughput, and cycle time are related by $WIP = TH \times CT$.

Capacity

The maximum average rate at which entities can flow through a system.

Bottleneck

The process in a production line that has the highest utilization level.

Utilization

The fraction of time a station is busy, computed as $\text{utilization} = \frac{\text{station throughput}}{\text{capacity of station}}$.

VUT Equation

A formula used to characterize waiting time (WT) due to queuing as $WT = V \times U \times T$, involving variability, utilization, and process time.

Variability factor (V)

A factor in the VUT equation that is a function of both arrival and process variability, measured by the coefficient of variation ($CV$).

Coefficient of variation (CV)

A measure of variability defined as $CV = \frac{\sigma}{\mu}$, where $\sigma$ is the standard deviation and $\mu$ is the mean.

Variability Buffering Principle

The law stating that variability in a production system will be buffered by some combination of Inventory, Capacity, and Time.

CONWIP

Standing for Constant WIP, a production mode where new jobs are released into a line only when a job is completed, keeping inventory levels stable.

Quality Control

The activity of inspecting or testing products to uncover defects and making decisions to allow or deny release.

Quality Assurance

A system that attempts to improve and stabilize production and associated processes to avoid or minimize issues leading to defects.

Feedforward circle

A quality control approach where data obtained from an early step is used to change subsequent processes to prevent problems.

In-line measurement

Analysis done directly in the product stream without taking a separate sample, using invasive or non-invasive methods.

Structural variation

The predictable, natural variation in materials, machines, and methods that cannot be avoided in a process.

Incidental variation

Unforeseen variation caused by deviations such as defects in raw material, operator errors, or improperly adjusted machines.

Statistical Process Control (SPC)

The application of statistical methods to monitor a process to ensure it operates according to requirements and detect incidental variation.

Process Potential Index (Cp)

The ratio of allowed variation to actual variation, calculated as $\frac{\text{allowed variation}}{\text{actual variation}}$; a value $\ge 1$ indicates a capable process.

Process Performance Index (Cpk)

An index that determines to what extent a process is centered by comparing the average value to the upper and lower control limits.

Acceptance sampling

A statistical quality control method where a random sample is taken from a batch to decide whether to accept or reject the entire lot.

Operating Characteristic (OC) curve

A graph plotting the percentage of defective items in a batch against the probability of acceptance for a specific sampling plan.

Acceptable Quality Level (AQL)

The percent defective that is the baseline requirement for a producer's product, representing the quality level the producer wants accepted.

Lot Tolerance Percent Defective (LTPD)

The high defect level that is designated as unacceptable to the consumer.

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)

A systematic preventive approach to food safety that identifies biological, chemical, and physical hazards and establishes critical control points.

Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)

Guidelines describing methods, equipment, facilities, and controls for producing food in four domains: Means, Materials, Methods, and People.

Prerequisite Programs (PRP)

Documented activities or facilities that provide the necessary foundation for HACCP by preventing basic hygiene hazards.