Improving quality in chilled food products

The entire organisation plays a role in quality. It is becoming increasingly common for quality specialists to work together with colleagues from other departments in order to take quality to the next level. Here, three quality consultants from companies that manufacture chilled food products discuss a range of topics: their day-to-day work, the new challenges posed by trends such as sustainability, the need to convey an image of craftsmanship, the importance of raw materials and the risk of food fraud.

Robin Franssen has been working at Plaza Foods, a manufacturer of Asian ready meals based in Nijmegen, since 2014. He is involved in a broad spectrum of improvements: he maintains contact with suppliers regarding product stability and is collaborating with people from engineering and operations on the design of a new factory that Plaza Foods is building in Nijmegen. During the VMT Food Event he was named as Quality Manager (Food) of the Year. Robin regards it as one of the company’s strengths that the quality discipline has a clear voice in the construction project: “Rather than being someone who simply rejects things, a quality employee should actively get involved in the planning process and contribute to finding the best solution.” He sees two types of quality managers: ones who think in terms of possibilities and others who only look at what is necessary. He is clearly of the first type. “If you see something that can be improved but which will require a change to the organisation and the working methods, then it’s your job to set that change in motion.”

Rejuvenation

At Plaza Foods Robin has worked on a large number of improvements, many of which he also initiated. One example is a significant reduction in the company’s internal stock levels. The flow through the process has been accelerated: “Very beneficial for the quality”. Furthermore, after a period of thorough analysis, the internal organisation was redesigned with a considerable expansion of the middle management and the number of operators so that shift leaders could finally really focus on their management tasks. To support them, the central staff was expanded too. This rejuvenation has delivered concrete results: the quality and the financial performance have improved and absenteeism has been reduced. In terms of the future, Robin says that Food Plaza is especially looking at issues such as big data, digitisation and robotisation. “These will be fundamental to growth.”

Shorter life cycle

Frank Sluis, a graduate in production management and quality from HAS University of Applied Sciences in 1995, is Manager Production and Quality at Henri BV in Drunen. He has previously worked at Uniekaas and at an industrial bakery company in Tilburg. Henri BV produces chilled ready meals, sauces and soups for the foodservice sector which are distributed via wholesalers. When asked to name just one development that has had a major impact on quality management, Sluis mentions the fact that products remain unchanged in the portfolio for an ever-shorter length of time. “The pace of change is accelerating all the time. Since 2013/2014 the life cycle has become so short that it takes a lot of time and energy to ensure that the label provides the right information. That’s why we’re now investing in our ERP system so that information is automatically passed on to the likes of GS1-DAS and PS in Food.”

Education

Some years ago, the management team at Henri decided to place the quality safeguards, the responsibility for checks, in the lower layers of the organisation: with the line operators. “An important number of those checks are done digitally, with the operators entering data into the computer. That also makes their work more interesting. They must be aware of the reason why they have to input the data. It’s a gradual process and one that we’re intensively supporting with training.” Robin Franssen echoes the importance of training. “That demands extra attention because many employees speak little to no Dutch.” 

Björn Boers also confirms that he invests a lot of energy in instructing and training operators. Boers has been working for the past eight years in the Quality department of Bonfait in Denekamp, which is part of the German company Apetito. Bonfait manufactures chilled ready meals for retail and foodservice. The most important innovation, according to Boers, has been brought about by the market itself: “Consumers want meals that not only are fresh but also look fresh and that also contain less salt. These new preferences require us to find new methods that enable us to make tasty and safe, high-quality food products with the necessary shelf life while also using less salt and heat treatment. That’s why we’re always on the look-out for new pasteurisation methods, for example, and flavourings that can partially replace salt. That’s interesting work: there’s always something new to discover.”

New demands

At Henri those issues have long been a matter of consideration, particularly since 2009 when the company opted for sustainability “with conviction”. Various aspects of that, such as animal welfare, the avoidance of preservatives and suchlike, are firmly anchored in the company. “This places new demands on the process. The quality of our products must remain high for the entire shelf life: stable sauces, a workable shelf life. In addition, we want to inform our customers effectively and provide them with certainty about the sustainable origins of ingredients. That’s why our quality system integrates many other systems: ones for traceability and food safety as well as Skal and Beter Leven, for instance.” Henri also reduces its environmental footprint through its sustainable choices for residual flows to combat waste. “One example is our tomato soup made from cherry tomatoes that have split and would otherwise be thrown away. That calls for a more precise interpretation of quality. Flavour and food safety must be excellent, but when the tomatoes are used to make soup it doesn’t matter how they look.” 

“You have to align the process and staffing levels with that possibility. You must be audit-ready every day.”

Allergens

Over recent years, allergen information has become the focus of extra attention. Nowadays, the foodservice sector must also inform consumers about the possible presence of allergens. That information comes from the manufacturers: “The information must be completely reliable. We keep control of allergens by maintaining strict divisions between raw materials flows and by conducting extra checks – such as the 3D test – on the effectiveness of our cleaning activities.” Frank has everything under control, but there are of course always plans for the future. “With the need for greater flexibility in the back of our mind, we’re exploring the right ways to use robots.”

Raw materials

The quality specialists mention raw materials as the area of the production process in which further improvements can always be made. Quality consultant Jori Broens from KTBA in Kaatsheuvel, specialised in raw materials and their risks, shares that view. Her vision is supported by a new report by the European Food and Veterinary Office, which “identifies room for improvement” in raw materials safeguards. Highly topical issues at the moment include food fraud and product integrity, as also confirmed by Michel Brinkhorst from BK Kwaliteitszorg in Den Bosch: “The emphasis on the fraud risk is partly due to recent food scandals and the media exposure they received. I regularly hear the comment that you can adjust the paperwork to say anything you like; if you really want certainty, you have to conduct targeted tests.” Unannounced audits are becoming more commonplace nowadays and they are placing new demands on the approach to quality.