HACCP: a quest for quality as a competitive strategy for agribusiness

Abstract

While consumption of food gives material pleasure and a healthy life, contaminated food can be dangerous to health. Therefore, quality of food is very important. Even from the producers’ point of view, selling high quality food can be viewed as a competitive strategy to overcome competition. With the recent agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, World Trade Organization (WTO) has made it mandatory for all member states to follow international food standards guidelines in the sphere of foreign trade. An important element of these guidelines is the compliance with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), a management system for food safety. Indian firms will have to adopt these guidelines, else they will have to face nontrade- barriers in the export market. In this paper, I try to give a comprehensive treatment to HACCP and related food safety issues. I present the historical development of the system, give a theoretical background, and describe the actual procedure for implementing HACCP. It is hoped that food processing industry takes a lead in developing HACCP plans for the diverse range of domestic food products. This has a potential not only to improve food quality but also to give Indian firms a competitive advantage over others both in the domestic and export market.