The Japanese overview: quality control and its supporting technology

Abstract

The food industry is the fourth largest manufacturing industry in Japan and with 10% of total annual sales. However, compared with other industries, the number of employees working at small enterprises, which have fewer than 300 employees, and the amount of sales from such enterprises is greater than in other industries. Recently, there has been a significant change in consumer patterns. The population is aging, the lifestyle of the individual consumer is diversifying and the consumers are in favour of late production dates. As a result, the system of food production has shifted to multi-product low-volume production. This clear change has been reflected in the quality control employed in the food industry. The common objectives of quality control are to ensure high quality raw and packaging materials, to provide a correct supply of raw materials, to prevent microbial contamination and growth, to prevent contamination by foreign materials and to prevent defective packaging. Because of shifts to multi-product low-volume production systems, the number of inspections required increased dramatically so that the robotic inspection systems are now being introduced, and storage and shipment controls are achieved by computer networks. The major concerns now are to correlate sensory tests with the patterns of recognition of various instrumental analyses. Development of sensors as measuring devices has been the goal of extensive research. The research and development (R & D) sections of many companies are interested in new technologies such as super high pressure cooking, super critical CO 2 extraction, extrusion cooking and membrane separation to improve the quality of design. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan and the food industry have been cooperating to develop these new technologies.