Food Safety Management: A Major Required Action for Tunisian Olive Oil Products

Abstract

Tunisia is one of the rich olive countries which has several olive oil production companies but there is obviously the lack of effective quality control programs in the olive oil industries. So, it is necessary to set out an approach to the implementation of a food safety management system in this regard. Food safety hazards can occur at any stage of the food chain and so, adequate control program is too important throughout the chain. Thus, it is a shared responsibility assured mainly by the combined efforts of all parties involved in the food chain. Previously, several researches have been carried out to enhance the quality and shelf life of olive oil (Angerosa, 2002; Aparicio and Harwood, 2013; Bosque-Sendra et al., 2011; Dabbou et al., 2011; Kanavouras et al., 2004; Kiritsakis and Dugan, 1984). The olive and olive oil industries have been studied in some countries like Albania with focus on the analysis of supply, quality system, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system, and quality assurance (El-Kalyoubi et al., 2015; Mane-Kapaj et al., 2010). More recently, Cukur et al. (2015) evaluated the quality management systems of firms specialized in olive oil production in Turkey. However, the study of the Tunisian olive oil industry, as certified system with different standards, represents a lack of researches in this sector. So, it is too significant to prepare food safety management system implementation and make improvements to eliminate the theoretical difficulties and to simplify tasks in reality case. The choice of an action plan requires the use of certain criteria to improve project to be beneficial to the olive oil companies in Tunisia. The HACCP system improves the responsibility degree and the olive oil control in the company. The application of the different HACCP principles approach allows defining the production diagram and analyzing the different hazards that may pose a risk to the safety of olive oil.