Fish Microbiology and Quality Assurance

Unit 9 - Assurance and management quality of fish

9.2. Concept of Quality Management
The term quality broadly refers to degree of excellence of any product. The processing industries can ensure quality product to the consumer by outlining and adopting strict quality control measures during handing and processing of the product. This becomes necessary not only to protect consumer interests but also to develop brand name to the product. The industries involved in processing fish and fishery products have to follow several concepts involved in quality management system so as to produce a quality product.

Quality is defined as those characters in a product which have significance in consumer acceptability. The quality of a product is influenced and controlled by several factors.
The quality in fishery products is the result of physical, chemical, biochemical, organoleptic and bacteriological characteristics of the product. Thus, the quality depends on factors such as intrinsic composition, nutritive value, degree of spoilage, damage, deterioration during processing, storage and distribution, hazards to health, consumer satisfaction, aesthetic consideration, product yield and profitability to producer and seller.
In general, the quality of fish means all that attributes which consciously or unconsciously the consumer/ buyer considers should be present. However, the decision on quality ultimately rests with fish consumer.

Quality types
Based on the origin of the factors controlling the quality, the quality of a product can be grouped in to intrinsic quality and extrinsic quality.
Intrinsic quality
Intrinsic quality refers to sum of attributes that are inherent in raw material. It is affected by factors such as fish species, size, sex, condition, composition, parasites and other organisms, naturally occurring toxins, contamination with pollutants etc. Factors affecting intrinsic quality can not be controlled.
Extrinsic quality
Refers to sum of effects of all the treatments that the fish receives after catch till it reaches consumer. It is affected by degree of freshness, conformity with declared mode of presentation/ product style, weight, size, ingredients, food additives, acceptability of processing methods, suitability of containers and packaging methods, extent of cleanliness and sanitary conditions followed during handling and processing. The factors controlling extrinsic quality can be controlled.

Quality control measures
The product quality can be attained by adopting quality control measures. Quality control is defined as operational techniques and activities that are used to fulfill quality requirements. These include;

• Total quality management
• Sanitation control procedures
• Sanitation standard operating procedures (SSOP)
• Good Manufacturing practices (GMP)
• Hazard analysis critical control points (HACCP)