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Home , Food quality

WHAT IS QUALITY?

by Marie Ferree University of California Berkeley, California

course, include factors of and Presents the various aspects of nutritive valued I say “of course there is food quality from the consumers’ concern for food safety and nutritive value” viewpoint. although, there seems to be considerable difficulty proving concern for either when confronted by consumer advocates. What is food quality? It’s a nice tidy Iittlequestion withas many answers as there Food buyers are concerned about some are people to give them, To come up with a of these same characteristics of excellence. workable answer, Isearched through the files, They express them differently, Lacking the discussed the question of quality with some objective measuring devices of other segments consumers and I even gave the subject some of the production, processing and distribu- thought. And I found an answer in the form tion system, consumers rely on judgments of of a question. What is food quality? color, feel texture, odor, sound and the Quality of what, and according to whom? written word. When the opportunity presents itself, the food buyer may also take advan- Definitions of quality include the tage of the judgment of taste. precise: “Thedistinctivet rait, character- istic, capacity or virtue of a product that We have been told, at times in rather sets it apart from all others.” “Quality”, strident tones, that consumers’ chief con- according to the 1970 Yearbook of Agricul- cerns relate to food safety and nutritive ture, “is the measure or expression of good- value: ness.” When I asked one homemaker what quality meant to her she said, “Ask my -- That consumers fear nutritive neighbor she really knows quality food.” A value is lost in processing definition of quality I picked up while and no attempt is made to re- attending an industry meeting is “Quality is store it. what you think the competition thinks the .- That nutrients and other food standard is.” Put still another way quality are added to turns out to be the standard the consumer far beyond safe limits. will accept. -- That , herbicide, and recently, that some hormone There is little need to emphasize the residues are present in the point that family and institutional food food Supply. buyers have a somewhat different set of quality standards from that of other buyers I did a count of questions that come within the food production and distribution into our Public Service Department and dis- system. covered that of 500 questions over the past 10 months, 400 of them were directly con- Concerns of people involved in food cerned with food. Presumably, these 400 production, processing and distribution in- questions should give some clues to what clude selection and use of plants and ani- concerns consu-mers. Bear in mind, please, mals which will produce characteristics of this Public Service Department is located performance excellence related toharvesting, at the University of California, Berkeley, shipping, processing, and shelf life, Char- where all sorts of craziness, food craziness acteristics of performance excellence do, of included, is reputed to have its roots.

February 73/page 34 Journal of Food Distribution Research A little more than half the questions Food buyers put a high priority on eye asked, 56%, were direct requests for how- appeal of fresh foods in the market. Well to-do-it. “HOW can I pickle olives?” was colored fruits and vegetables, uniform sizes the question asked most often. and products that are free of any kind of damage will get agood rating from most food Other questions included: “what can I buyers . Yet they know intuitively or by do with a tree full of lemons?” “Can I whatever sixth sense food buyers use, that freeze coconut?” “Could you sendme a recipe color isn’t the reliable guide to quality. for baking a whole sa.lmon?’r If you don’t~elieve it you have never watched food buyers perform their food buy- About 33%of the questions were directly ing chores. concerned with : ‘Where can I get a list of the nutritive value of different Because color and uniformsize get con- foods?rr ‘rArevitamins in pills the same as siderable emphasis from other segments of in food?rr rrwhatcheeses are low the marketing system, consumers perhaps give in ?rr ‘rHow many calories in Ricotta these two factors a little too much emphasis cheese and in cottage cheese?’r but that is the way it is. Exterior color often has little to do with what’s inside About 5% of the questions concernqd and uniform sizes do not indicate how good food safety: ‘rMygrandmother dies recently or bad a food is. But what other factors and left a large number of cans of home can the food buyer judge? canned pickles, fruits and vegetables. . . are they safe to eat?” “Are juniper berries At the meat counter, the food buyer safe to eat?” “How can you tell if tuna is relies on the reputation of the food store contaminated with ?” “My freezer or on grades, or brand names as guides to was off for two days. . can I refreeze the quality. When you dig into food shoppers’ vegetables and pork chops?’r judgments of meat quality factors, you get a mixed bag and they may or may not match About 3% of the questions concerned government and industry’s judgment. meat grades and labeling: “Is a meat market allowed to package round steak cut in small We are all familiar with the studies pieces, label it ‘stroganoff beef’ and sell done of consumer preferences for beef, in it for a higher price than the piece of which the preference turns out to result round steak in one piece?r’ ‘rWhat is the from the halo effect of the word “Choice,” best grade of beef?” “How much fat is in rather than any accurate judgment of quality regular ground beef in the supermarket?” on the part of the food shopper.

It was difficult to classify 3% of the Palatability, the way food tastes, questions: “What is a kiwi?’r “Where can I ranks high on the family and institutional buy eels?” and “Are guinea pigs edible?” foodbuyer’s list of quality standards. Yet, this is one quality factor the buyer can I’m still not sure about the guinea rarely judge until after the sales transac- pig question. Was it a problem of safety? tion. Indeed, there are maturity standards Nutrition? Preparation? Maybe the quinea for practically everything that grows--live- pig had become a storage problem. stock, poultry, , fruits and vegetables. The standards relate, or are supposed to, to Food buyers have specific performance palatability, And there are palatability expectations for food: they expect meat to standards for processed foods. But the be tender when cooked; they expect salad standards lose something in the translation. greens tobe crisp; they expect the packaged Immature fruits and vegetables still appear flour mix to turn out a product that is ac- in the market; overmature peas, beans and ceptable to the family or clientele; they cornare still processed; the word r’seasoningr’ expect canned peaches to live up to the on the package labels of processed foods descriptive label; they expect frozen dinners (especially mixtures) translates “too much to satisfy the appetite. salt”.

Journal of Food Distribution Research February 73/page 35 So what is quality? Quality of food that have brought nutrition labeling, in- includes all those characteristics of ex- gredient labeling and price per measure cellence that make it acceptable to the food should have been made without the high pres- buyer. The fact that food quality turns out sure and invective that finally precipitated to be the standard consumers will accept them. And if you think all this additional doesn’t have to be a bad thing. The major- information is the end to making better food ity of consumers find acceptable product shoppers-- you are wrong. We may be better quality in the market, They must, estimates educated, more sophisticated and have access vary, but it appears that shoppers in food to a better commodity system. markets make choices at the rate of about 4 per second. Shoppers do take It will be well worthwhile, starting and safety of food pretty much for granted. now, to listen more closely to the real consumers . Hear them when they say they Another measure of how well quality want fresh strawberries that taste like standards meet consumers’ expectations is fresh strawberries, fresh tomatoes that that it has taken 20 years to get a real taste like fresh tomatoes, and ripe peaches, consumer movement under way. And we aren’t plums and melons. hearing the majority of consumers, we hear the crusaders, those who will save us in If you insist that little can be done spite of ourselves. What they advocate is in guaranteeing good characteristics good. But the results of the crusade were of fresh foods my only reaction is why not? obvious a long time ago. And the decisions

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February 73/page 36 Journal of Food Distribution Research