Felix Amiri
Global Coalition for Sustained Excellence in Food & Health Protection (GCSEFHP), Canada
Title: Food industry Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and the Safety, Security and Quality Assurance (SSQA) concept
Biography
Biography: Felix Amiri
Abstract
The food industry has seen the adoption of different concepts and strategies for ensuring controlled and efficient implementation of GMPs. The evolution has continued from periods of no formalized systems to the introduction of highly sophisticated manufacturing management models. Many food companies have adopted well-known concepts such as: Total Quality Management(TQM); Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat (SWOT) analysis; Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) models; 6-S systems; Statistical Process Control (SPC); Statistical Quality Control (SQC); Six Sigma; Kaizen Methodologies; Lean Manufacturing; International Standards Organization (ISO) system; Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system; Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Benchmarking system; et cetera. The overwhelming number of concepts has forced food companies to adopt them exclusively and in isolation. This creates both the necessity and the opportunity for the adoption of a synergy-building concept like SSQA. The SSQA model is a focused approach to managing GMPs, product safety, security and quality. The SSQA concept actively drives operations to search, recognize, investigate, adopt and expand upon winning ideas drawn from excellence-producing management approaches. The SSQA model is didactic, eclectic, organic and progressive. It brings together the theory and reality of product safety, security and quality assurance. SSQA directly and actively drives a collaborative engagement of all parties involved in the material supply, processing, distribution, utilization, regulation and independent assessment of operations with tools for ensuring and measuring success. Through a six-step implementation strategy, SSQA draws from other useful concepts and ensures resource utilization efficiency; effective implementation of programs, procedures and actions through the entire chain engagement process; team mobilization strategy; the tracking of exceptional success; failure analysis and control tracking; continuous analysis of realized effectiveness and efficiencies; and a HACCP system that addresses difficult-to-manage situations.