Today’s U.S. meat supply is the safest it has been in history, yet consumers have concerns about the quality and safety of the food products they purchase. News of food recalls based on the presence of potentially harmful bacteria, other disease-causing agents, or contaminant raise fear in consumers and lower the confidence in our nation’s food supply. While food safety may be at an all time high, the perception of many consumers is that there is genuine risk in consuming many of the products marketed at grocery stores. Increases in consumption of foods labeled as “organic” or “naturally produced,” foods purchased directly from the farm, or from farmers markets, are indicators of this perception.

The USDA Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) is the government agency that has as one of its responsibilities the testing of our food supply to ensure its safety. By FSIS definition, food safety refers to the conditions and practices that preserve the quality of food to prevent contamination and food-borne illnesses. Detecting the presence of disease organisms, chemical residues, or foreign material in foods and recalling those foods are examples of some of the work conducted by the FSIS to safeguard the nation’s food supply. These quality control measures evaluate the final product prior to sale and prevent potentially harmful food from being distributed or consumed by the public. However, while quality control measures detect harmful substances, they cannot correct the production practice(s) at fault leading to the presence of those substances. That is the role of quality assurance.

The presence of drug residues in meat can serve as an illustration of the difference between quality control and quality assurance. Tests can be performed to detect the presence of unacceptable levels of drug residues in meat necessitating that meat be condemned and destroyed. This quality control process identifies the problem, unacceptable levels of drug residues, but cannot pinpoint where in the production process the problem occurred. Quality assurance programs, on the other hand, set forth guidelines to prevent failures in quality from occurring and, when problems are detected, provide the framework to identify and correct the production practices that led to compromised product quality. Thus, a producer following a quality assurance program can trace back in his or her production system and identify where the failure occurred. Protocols and procedures can be evaluated, corrective actions taken, and records kept to prevent future occurrence. The goal of a quality assurance program is to consistently produce a safe product at the level of quality demanded by the consumer and mandated by law.

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