Methodology for the identification of barriers in food safety certification processes: case study of the bovine meat industry in the city of Cúcuta.

Abstract

Food industries are business organizations that must guarantee food safety in production processes, understood as the fulfillment of conditions in the production, storage and distribution chain that ensure consumers can eat products without representing risks to human health. Based on these considerations, it is of vital importance that the industry implements international certification processes, which measure the quality of its processes for the integral control of safety in the stages of the production chain. In this order of ideas, being the bovine meat sector the commercial activity that contributes more to the gross domestic product and to the generation of employment in Colombia, the present article shows the results of a research process that sought to analyze the barriers in the implementation of international standards in the manufacture of meat products in the city of Cúcuta. From the precepts of established by the International Organization for Standadization, with the norm “Guarantee of the nourishing security”, the main impediments that present/display the companies of Cúcuta in the fulfillment of the conditions to obtain the international certification were studied. The applied methodology was based on a descriptive research with a mixed approach. An instrument was designed and applied to the companies of the sector in the city of Cúcuta, with the purpose of diagnosing the current situation, then through interviews an evaluation of expert opinions was made, identifying the business management, at international and regional level, providing from experience the necessary knowledge in the implementation, maintenance and audit of quality management system. Finally, the expert’s judgment was correlated with the diagnosis, evaluating the level of compliance, the main barriers, the behavior of the sector and the continuous improvement for the manufacture of safe food.