Level 3 · Part 3
Quality, safety and consistency
Buyers come back for products that are safe and the same every time.
A processed product carries more responsibility than a raw one. People trust you with what they eat. A single bad batch can lose customers for a long time.
Three questions every food producer must answer
- Is it safe? Think about clean water, clean hands, clean surfaces, dry and protected storage, and how you prevent contamination.
- Is it the same each time? Buyers expect the same taste, size and quality in every pack. Write down your method so anyone can repeat it.
- Is it allowed? Many countries require registration, labels and sometimes inspection of processed foods. The rules differ and change. Ask the food authority in your country what applies to you.
Health claims
Do not say that a food cures, prevents or treats a disease. Rules about what you may claim on a label are strict in many places. Describe what the product is and how to use it, and check what claims are allowed.
Where to go deeper
How to do the work well is covered in the next levels: processing, packaging and storage. The module on value-added food processing shows in detail how one example is planned, registered and priced.
Exercise 3.3 · Safety and consistency check
- Write down the steps to make your product, in order.
- Next to each step, write what could make it unsafe or different from batch to batch.
- Write who you would ask in your country about the rules for selling it.
Background reading for this part:
- Value from village processing (Diversification booklet 4) — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Peter Fellows