Chapter 17 Standardization And Grading

Presenter:Biplab Chandra Pal Roll:-122

Standardization in the Food Industry:Standards are commonly agreed upon yardsticks of measurement. A number of standards affect the food marketing process. Bangladesh Bureau of Weights and Measures supervises the standardization of weights and other measures. The Public Health Service enforces food sanitation standards. The Food and rug Administration (FDA)sets food processing standards for good manufacturing practice "regulates additive levels, and the supervises the nutritional labeling of food. Bangladesh Department of Agriculture supervises a broad range of food standardization programs.

Food Quality Grades and Standards:Quality is subjective property referring to the usefulness,desirability,and value of a food product. Food quality standards are commonly accepted properties that differentiate food products in terms of their value to buyers. Food standards may be physical for example, the nutritional value of a commodity-but most food standards are sensory (taste, smell and so on).

Grading refers to the sorting of unlike lots of products into uniform categories, according to quality standards.

The appropriateness and accuracy of the grading process depend on the correspondence between the quality standards and buyer and seller preferences. The range of qualities to be stored. The relevance of the sorting to consumer choices.

Marketing impacts of standardization

Grades and standards allow marketing by description, rather than by

inspection. Grading can also lower the marketing cost. For example, transportation cost may be reduced by distinguishing between the higher valued products, to be shipped forward and the lower valued products to be sold nearer to home. Food grading also can contribute to market competition and pricing efficiency.

Standardization of quality grades can improve pricing efficiency in two ways:The use of grades give consumers specific information with which to signal their preferences to producers. Te use of uniform quality grades provide incentives for producers to adjust to changing consumer preferences. Classification by grades also facilities the cost reducing concentration process in the food marketing. For example, without grades, some sort of identifying mark would have to be affixed to a farmers wheat throughout the market channel in order that the wheats exact, ultimate value be paid to the farmers. Uniform grades and standards can also contribute to market development In the form of greater consumer satisfaction and increased producers return.

Criteria for Grades and Standards:Standards should be built on characteristics the user considers important, and these characteristics should be recognizable. Grade must be oriented to user opinion of value and not that of a few technical experts. Standards should be built on those factors that can be accurately and uniformly measured. If the major part of the a standard consists of subjective measurements, uniform application by different grades, or at different points, will be very difficult. Excessive quality variation within a grade reduces the usefulness of the grade itself. Standards should use those factors and that technology that will make the grades meaningful to as many users of the product as possible. The ideal situation would be one in which the same grade technology is used at all levels of the marketing channel, from consumer to the producer.

Standards should be such that each grade classification include enough of the average production to be a meaningful category on the market. Though grading standard should be consumer-oriented, they can not ignore the real facts of production. The cost of operating at the grading system must be reasonable. Absolute uniformity at any price is not feasible goal.