Quality Handling And Evaluation

Food quality is becoming an ever-increasing important feature for consumers and it is well known that some food crops are perishable and have a very short shelf and storage life. An effective quality assurance system throughout the handling steps between harvest and retail display is essential to provide a consistently good quality supply of fresh food crops to the consumers and to protect the reputation of a given marketing label. Food manufacturing companies all over the world are incre- ingly focussing on quality aspect of food including minimally processed food to meet consumer demands for fresh-like and healthy food products. To investigate and control quality, one must be able to measure quality-related attributes. Quality of produce encompasses sensory attributes, nutritive values, chemical constituents, mechanical properties, functional properties and defects. Successful postharvest handling of crops requires careful coordination and integration of the various steps from harvest operations to consumer level in order to maintain the initial product quality. Maturity at harvest is one feature of quality of perishable products, it has great influence on their postharvest behavior during marketing. Safety assurance can be part of quality assurance and its focus on minimizing chemical and microbial contamination during production, harvesting, and postharvest handling of intact and fresh-cut of commodities. Essentially, electromagnetic (often optical) prop- ties relate to appearance, mechanical properties to texture, and chemical properties to flavor (taste and aroma).

Food quality is becoming an ever-increasing important feature for consumers and it is well known that some food crops are perishable and have a very short shelf and storage life. An effective quality assurance system throughout the handling steps between harvest and retail display is essential to provide a consistently good quality supply of fresh food crops to the consumers and to protect the reputation of a given marketing label. Food manufacturing companies all over the world are incre- ingly focussing on quality aspect of food including minimally processed food to meet consumer demands for fresh-like and healthy food products. To investigate and control quality, one must be able to measure quality-related attributes. Quality of produce encompasses sensory attributes, nutritive values, chemical constituents, mechanical properties, functional properties and defects. Successful postharvest handling of crops requires careful coordination and integration of the various steps from harvest operations to consumer level in order to maintain the initial product quality. Maturity at harvest is one feature of quality of perishable products, it has great influence on their postharvest behavior during marketing. Safety assurance can be part of quality assurance and its focus on minimizing chemical and microbial contamination during production, harvesting, and postharvest handling of intact and fresh-cut of commodities. Essentially, electromagnetic (often optical) prop- ties relate to appearance, mechanical properties to texture, and chemical properties to flavor (taste and aroma).

Explanations are given for pertinent steps in the audit process, from determining the purpose of the audit through planning and implementing the process to evaluating, reporting, and following up on the results. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This volume works towards overcoming the lack of systematic impact evaluation in higher education, particularly analyses which are not restricted to ex-post gathered data and expert assessments. Since (higher) education is more important than ever in knowledge societies, high priority should be ascribed to quality management (QM) in higher education institutions (HEIs). Consequently, impact evaluation of QM effectiveness is indispensable because it generates the knowledge required for quality (management) improvement. The introductory chapter elucidates the motivation and objective of impact analyses of QM in HEIs and provides an overview of the volume’s other contributions. One chapter reflects on success factors and un-/intended effects of QM, while another one analyses more discoursive ways of evidence-informed guidance of QM policies which are complementary to rigorous impact studies. Five chapters investigate QM effectiveness in HEIs by ex-post and simultaneous impact evaluation in European case studies, including assessments of students, teachers, quality managers, and institutional leadership. The case studies comprise universities from Germany, Spain, Finland, and Romania. The final chapter reports a SWOT analysis of impact evaluation of QM in HEIs, which is suggested as a tool for bridging the notorious gap between the demanding methodology of impact evaluation and its proper implementation. This book was originally published as a special issue of the European Journal of Higher Education.

This new comprehensive resource Medical Quality Management: Theory and Practice addresses the needs of physicians, medical students, and other health care professionals for up to date information about medical quality management. In reviewing the key principles and methods that comprise the current state of medical quality management in U.S. health care, this text provides a concise summary of quality improvement, patient safety and quality measurement methodologies. Important Notice: The digital edition of this book is missing some of the images or content found in the physical edition.

This text continues to provide a managerially-oriented, integrated view of the issues involved in total quality management. The Third Edition is strongly influenced by the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria. New chapters have been added on current topics such as customer focus, leadership and strategic planning, measurement and information management, and quality management evaluation and assessment. Updating of all chapters ensures complete and timely coverage.

The management of quality has emerged as the key development issue for education in the 1990s and beyond. In the context of education, quality is an ellusive concept and difficult to define. This text offers practical ideas and suggestions from which the reader can choose to meet their own particular needs in a field where there are seemingly an infinite number of possible approaches.

This book covers various aspects of quality handling and assessment, including handling parameters, quality evaluation, CA and MAP storage conditions in a broad sense. It emphasises on developing better methods of monitoring quality and safety attributes of fresh produce as part of a quality assurance system and quality assessment and maintenance.