The logistics of information flow in managing the quality of food products

Attempting to introduce quality in production, distribution and trade companies, leads to a rise in their level of competitiveness on the market. The lack of informational feed-back on quality among economic operators causes a series of dissensions that may contribute to product degradation, stock blocking, supply irregularities, conflicts with customers, even activity stop. Food products get to the consumers by means of logistic chains which can involve different types of factors and can pass more frontiers. A weak link may affect the safety of the food products that may become dangerous to human health, producing risks for consumers and considerable costs for the suppliers. As the risks related to foods safety may appear in any part of the chain, it is essential to have an appropriate control of the whole chain. Food quality and safety are the common responsibilities of all the factors that intervene in the processes and it is necessary that they combine their efforts. The wide range of food products on the market, together with the correct information broadcast, as a main factor of promotion strategy, allow the end user to adopt a critical attitude and develop the selective capacity that may favor some forms of competition based on quality, to the detriment of the ones based on costs. Thus, it is necessary to re-think the concept of quality, in the attempt to propose innovative solutions that can give answers to the market’s signals, assessing correctly the implications that come from facing the collectivity and the delicate relationship between man and the environment.