Abstract
Food trading is one of the biggest emerging and congested businesses in both rural and urban areas of developed and developing nations worldwide and the opportunities for food businesses to be successful are greater than ever. Production of food is a complex process as it involves many different stages, such as receiving, handling and storage of unprocessed materials; the manufacturing process; packaging; storage; transportation; and the consumption of product, along with waste removal and disposal. This means that if the food safety control system of any company producing or handling food is weak or absent, food contaminations or hazards (such as biological, chemical and physical) are expected to happen at any stage of the process, and subsequently to result in unsafe food for consumption.
Food safety is a confirmation that foodstuff cannot be detrimental to the end users if it is prepared, handled, served and consumed as per the instruction. However, a significant number of individuals worldwide still suffer from food-related illness owing to the availability of food safety hazards in the food network. In most parts of Africa, owing to high levels of unemployment and illiteracy, the majority of people have resorted to traditional and unsafe food and beer, which is produced and sold on the street. This has prompted AB-InBev Africa (formerly SABMiller) to produce and market traditional beer (Opaque), which is produced in a hygienic controlled environment as a way of migrating opaque beer drinkers from unsafe homemade beer to safe beer. However, the nature and viscosity of the opaque beer make the analytical and microbial capability to detect quality and food safety issues a challenge. A food safety system that is able to anticipate and manage the risks associated with food proactively and effectively needs to be installed in the processing plant. The whole intention of the study is to acquire a deep understanding into understanding of the process of implementation, quantify the challenges related to the implementation and subsequently tailor a model for the implementation of an HACCP food safety system at Traditional Africa Beer (TAB) and food manufacturing industries.
A literature review employed to gain insights and understanding from the knowledge and findings emerging from previous research food safety and related studies. The literature review identified and defined the HACCP system as an effective and proactive plant- and process-based food safety programme for managing, analysing and eliminating food safety hazards before they enter products. The HACCP was found to be effective and efficient, if it gained the support of the top leadership of the organisation and was built on the solid foundation of effective prerequisite programmes (PRPs).
Food safety systems that are based on HACCP principles are regarded as flexible and compatible with other international food safety standards such as International Organisation of standardisation (ISO) 22000 and 9000. Literature alerts us to the fact that the adoption and implementation of the food safety system is based on knowledge, expertise and understanding of the food manufacturing steps, current and probable food safety hazards and contaminants related to the production process, the HACCP principles and implementation steps, and installation of adequate PRPs. Prerequisites, which are based on the hygienic condition of the plant, play a critical role in reducing the number of hazards associated with the process and allow the HACCP to control critical control points (CCPs).
The literature reviews also highlighted challenges and barriers to the HACCP food safety system implementation as results of poor seriousness by top management, lack of motivation by employees and insufficient and absence of resources, skills and training programmes, and no buy-in from employees. This study was guided by the theory of operation management, which addresses the planning, management and improvement of the manufacturing process to produce a safe food product. The literature was also used to explain the concepts of behavioural systems thinking and attribution theory as...
M.Tech.