Consequences of having food poisoning issue

-Monetary compensation for victims (medical and other costs)
-Legal fees
-Higher insurance costs
-Lost market share and profits
-Negative publicity
-Closure of food premises by local authorities
-Incurred costs from internal investigation
-Incurred costs from cleaning, decontamination and replacement of equipment

References:

-http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=kexwWKbS6b4C&oi=fnd&pg=PA121&dq=consequences+of+food+poisoning+on+company&ots=LqpZWpc9pp&sig=4l90c3YJHOHWsknZPcyjpfmFpSA#PPP1,M1
Interdisciplinary Food Safety Research By Neal H. Hooker, Elsa A. Murano

-Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 41, No. 2, 192-211 (2004)DOI: 10.1177/0021943603261748© 2004 Association for Business Communication
Consumer Reaction to Negative Publicity
Effects of Corporate Reputation, Response, and Responsibility for a Crisis Event by Dwane Hal Dean

-Hygiene for Management Richard A. Sprenger Highfield Publications 1993.

Importance of QA and QC

Quality control includes the inspection, testing and monitoring of raw materials, process control and finished products control. Quality assurance is more elaborate. It describes control, evaluation and audit of a food processing system. Other than monitoring QA programs, it includes other actions that prevent food safety hazards and quality defects. It includes documents that describe operations and activities that pertain to food quality and safety. This documents include product-specific manufacturing (PSM) documents, general manufacturing operation (GMO documents, quality control analytical (QCA) documents, good manufacturing practices (GMP) documents etc.

Benefits of proper QA/QC includes: reduction in consumer complaints, consistency of product both within and across manufacturing locations, and cost savings with decreases in rejected product.

References:

-http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T6T-45YG5P7-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=b4e9cf8f5e41536072004be1f7644ee7
-Quality Assurance for the Food Industry: A Practical Approach By J. Andres Vasconcellos CRC Press 2004

-Quality Control In The Food Industry Vol. 1 S.M. Herschdoerfer Academic Press 1989

-Total Quality Assurance For The Food Industries Second Edition Wilbur A. Gould and Ronald W. Gould CTI Publications, Inc 1993

-Food Quality Assurance Principles and Practices Inteaz Alli CRC Press 2004

Regulations on levels of preservatives, microbiological and chemical limits

From Singapore Sale of Food Act

1.E. coli or other pathogens------<20 cfu/ml
2.Total Plate Count--------------<100,000 cfu/ml

3.Pesticide residue---------------According to 9th Schedule

4.Heavy metals, arsenic , lead and copper---According to 10th Schedule
5.Mercury----------------------------------<0.05ppm
6.Tin---------------------------------------<250ppm
7.Cadmium---------------------------------<0.2ppm
8.Antimony---------------------------------<1ppm
9.Selenium----------------------------------<1ppm

10.Food additives---------According to JECFA