Factors Affecting Food Quality in the Hospitality Industry
Food quality factors are the features or characteristics contained by food which consumers accept and consider it when purchasing food varieties. Food quality factors are essential elements which determine the choices of food consumers will buy. They are important since they affect and influence the food products consumers by customers and how the food product will be received in the market (Castanheira, Roe, Westenbrink, Ireland, Møller, Salvini, & Calhau, 2009). There are several quality factors which affect food products and include factors like taste, health, convenience and safety.
Safety of the food affects how consumers will purchase the food since the safest foods will be sold and bought in high volumes. Safety factors considered in food products are factors like how the food is handled, manufactured and processed. Hazards like heavy metals which may be contained in the food affect how the food will be purchased. Some food products may contain metals like lead, copper and mercury and once consumers realize them, the food products are not sold in the market as no one is able to purchase food products harmful to their health (Ryu, Lee, & Gon, 2012).
Convenience is a food quality factor which determines how food products will be bought in the market by consumers. The food product needed by consumers will be determined by the way it is convenient that is, how the food has been prepared to suit consumer needs (Aung, & Chang, 2014). The way the food will satisfy the customer will greatly have an impact on the way it is viewed in the market. The way in which a manufacturer will process the food product from the factory to reach the consumer is the main factor in determining the consumption power.
Health is another food quality factor which determines the consumption rate by customers. Health has the major aspect of nutrition which affects the type of food consumers will buy. Consumers will require knowing the nutrition ingredients contained in a certain type of food to enable them to purchase it. Different types of food will try to brand their products by indicating the quantity of nutrition content in the food product. Several brands show how their food products contain things like fibre content to market their products (Van Der Vorst, Tromp, & Zee, 2009).
Taste is also another factor which determines food quality and influences consumers in making food choices. Taste becomes a major factor and king since most people will first taste the food to know if they are going to consume it or not. Food products which have a sweet taste will have more consumers since people prefer sweet things especially children (Rong, Akkerman, & Grunow, 2011). Companies and manufacturing industries may, therefore, decide to concentrate on production and processing of sweet products to major in children and other people preferring sweet foods. This will have a high consumption rate and high demand in return.
These food quality factors determine the type of food consumers will buy and affects the purchasing power of different foods on the market. Food quality factors include internal and external factors which consumers consider and accept while buying food products. External food quality factors are the features which can be seen that is, the appearance of the food which includes features like shape, size, gloss, colour and consistency (Ha, & Jang, 2010). There is also flavour and texture which are also included as internal factors determining food quality. There are the internal features which affect food quality factors and include microbial, physical and chemical factors of the food product.
Preservation and Cooking Techniques for Maintaining Food Quality
These are some of the common characteristics which determine food quality and consumers consider when buying. Characteristics of food quality greatly affect what customers will buy by the look of the colour. The colour indicates and measures the food quality index as consumers are able to know if a fruit is ripe or has become spoiled. Additionally, once a food is cooked, it will be determined by the colour it will have at the end. The different colours contained in food products which have been packaged and processed also indicate the condition of the product (Early, 2012). There are also other characteristics of flavour which determines the kind of food a consumer will purchase. Good flavour of food will attract consumers want to taste and eat the food as it also contains the sweet aroma which will make them want to taste it.
There is the importance of food quality factors in culinary businesses which the food industry must adhere to ensure success in their business and gain profit in the industry. Firstly, there is the low cost of production which helps the culinary business reduce the costs they incur during the production, processing and packaging of the food products. This highly determines the amount of profit they will earn (Psomas, & Fotopoulos, 2010). It also helps prevent poor quality of products and wastages which occur and also ensure no inferior goods are produced thus lowering production costs. Another importance is food quality helps in the facilitation of prices of the products in the market.
An increase in sales of the products is another importance of food quality control since it promotes the quality production of items in the industry. The high-quality production of goods promotes attracts more customers which leads to increased sales of the products. This will eventually increase the demand for the products of the given company goods and more profit is earned in return (Akkerman, Farahani, & Grunow, 2010). There is also the use of social media platforms which has promoted sales and marketing of products. This in return increases sales of the product. Another importance of food quality products is that it promotes and helps improve production techniques (Luning, & Marcelis, 2009).
There are hazards which affect food quality and the culinary businesses, as well as the companies, need to consider ensuring the food produced is free from the hazards. There are different types of hazards like microbiological which include yeasts, viruses, moulds and bacteria which the company must be careful in handling food products (Kafetzopoulos, & Gotzamani, 2014). These hazards may enter food during production, processing or even packaging of the food items. High level of hygiene needs to be observed to ensure these organisms do not enter into the food being produced.
There are also chemical hazards like cleaning agents used in the process of producing the food, water used either in washing or processing. Other chemical hazards include pesticides which may be used to prevent the food from being attacked by pests, biocides, insecticides and food additives which are used to increase the flavour of the food products. When these chemical hazards are used excessively, they turn to be harmful to the consumers of the food and great care and attention is requiring while handling them for the safety of the customers using the products (Dora, Kumar, Van Goubergen, Molnar, & Gellynck, 2013). There is a physical hazard which may affect food quality being produced like when during packaging, a drop of jewellery glass or even droppings of pests may come into contact with the product.
Benefits of Organic Food for Quality Maintenance
There are advantages of foods which are organic and ‘pasture to plate’ philosophy since organic food does not contain any chemicals applied during the plantation and harvesting period. The crops become organic as they are grown naturally without application of synthetic fertilizers or any pesticides. Pasture to plate philosophy goes together with organic food since the animals used to produce food are fresh without any chemicals as they feed on natural pasture (Qin, Prybutok, & Zhao, 2010). Fresh quality meat is produced without the addition of any chemicals for food products and there are benefits of these organic foods. Organic food is environment-friendly since they do not use chemicals which end up polluting water. It also decreases soil erosion and at the same time increases the fertility of the soils. Organic foods are fresher since they do not contain any preservatives. Consumer use the food direct the way it has been produced hence the freshness hence healthier (Psomas, & Fotopoulos, 2010). Organic food is also richer in nutrients in that the animal products like meat and milk are natural and no addition of any chemicals. There are various methods which are used in food preservation and some have been in use for a very long time during the prehistoric times. Drying has been in use for a long period of time and continues to be used to preserve food like cereals. There is also the fermentation method which is used even in the present time to preserve food like milk. Another method is refrigeration where food is preserved in a fridge to make it last for long. There are also modern methods of preservation which include freezing, chemical additives and canning where foods are stored in cans. There is also pasteurization where the food is passed through very high temperatures to kill any organisms which may be harmful. Cooking techniques which help in preserving food and producing quality food include roasting, broiling and steaming.
References
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Aung, M. M., & Chang, Y. S. (2014). Traceability in a food supply chain: Safety and quality perspectives. Food control, 39, 172-184.
Castanheira, I., Roe, M., Westenbrink, S., Ireland, J., Møller, A., Salvini, S., & Calhau, M. A. (2009). Establishing quality management systems for European food composition databases. Food Chemistry, 113(3), 776-780.
Dora, M., Kumar, M., Van Goubergen, D., Molnar, A., & Gellynck, X. (2013). Food quality management system: reviewing assessment strategies and a feasibility study for European food small and medium-sized enterprises. Food control, 31(2), 607-616.
Early, R. (2012). Guide to quality management systems for the food industry. Springer Science & Business Media.
Ha, J., & Jang, S. S. (2010). Effects of service quality and food quality: The moderating role of atmospherics in an ethnic restaurant segment. International journal of hospitality management, 29(3), 520-529.
Kafetzopoulos, D. P., & Gotzamani, K. D. (2014). Critical factors, food quality management and organizational performance. Food Control, 40, 1-11.
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Ryu, K., Lee, H. R., & Gon Kim, W. (2012). The influence of the quality of the physical environment, food, and service on restaurant image, customer perceived value, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 24(2), 200-223.
Van Der Vorst, J. G., Tromp, S. O., & Zee, D. J. V. D. (2009). Simulation modelling for food supply chain redesign; integrated decision making on product quality, sustainability and logistics. International Journal of Production Research, 47(23), 6611-6631.
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