Quality assurance requirements in produce processing

The increasing consumption of produce has resulted in increasing concern by the food industry with respect to the safety of these products. Quality assurance norms covering all the processing steps, from farm to table, have become obligatory and assume a fundamental role in process innocuousness. This review contains information on the main factors responsible for the elaboration of a quality assurance system for produce plants: good agricultural practices (GAP) and good manufacturing practices (GMP), including the sanitation standard operating procedures (SSOP) and hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP).