IMPLEMENTATION STATUS OF FOOD SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

IN NEPALESE FOOD INDUSTRIES

Prateek Joshi1*, Pramod Koirala1 and Sanjeev Kumar Karn1

1 Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Kathmandu, Nepal

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Food industries in Nepal are now becoming a crucial part of

Consumer, the food delivery system where the final quality of the food
food industries, products is largely influenced by the operations carried out in
the food industry. In order to protect public health from food
food safety,
related hazards, there is need for the food industries to have
food safety management systems, food safety management systems that assure the safety of the
hazard analysis and critical processed/final food products. The current study was conducted
control point to explore and evaluate the status of the food safety and quality
management systems of the food manufacturing industries
*Correspondence: across Nepal along with their challenges in its implementation.
[email protected] The method of data collection was primary in nature.
Tel: +977-9841220104 Questionnaires were self- administered to the owners,
managers/ supervisors of the food manufacturing industries and
to the officials working in the field of food safety from the
Government of Nepal. Food Safety management systems were
found to be gradually improving but not at a satisfactory level
as there are no mandatory legal provisions for the system
certification of food industries till now. Therefore, food
manufacturing industries in Nepal needs to be strengthened by
implementing a broader concept of HACCP and other food
safety management systems along with pre requisite programs
to assure safe food delivery.

1. INTRODUCTION
In recent times, there has been a surge in Examples of such Systems are HACCP and
global consumer concerns about the safety of IS0 22000. These are certification systems
food products. This is mainly due to a series which are implemented to prevent the risk
of food scandals that have taken place in the caused by physical, chemical, and
last decade, and the perceived lack of progress microbiological hazards during food
in preventing their frequency of occurrence. processing and distribution (Arvanitoyannis
As a result, the food industry is now expected & Traikou, 2005). Food safety and quality has
not only to produce safe food, a role that has received attention in the agri-food sector and
always been recognized, but also to be is basis of all initiatives taken on different
transparent in demonstrating how food safety activity levels starting from farm to
is planned and ensured. (Fotopoulos et al., enterprises as a whole on regional, national,
2009) and international levels. A hybrid of the ISO
9001, Quality Management System and
Consumers are susceptible to food-borne Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point
hazards that may occur during manufacturing (HACCP), ISO 22000 has been developed as
processes, and therefore a basic requirement an international solution for assuring the food
for any food processing operation is a Food safety (Panghal et al., 2018). Food safety
Safety and/or Quality Management System. management systems such as HACCP, GHP

195 | The Journal of Agriculture and Environment, Vol: 25, December 2024
and GMP have been developed over recent underperforming due to their inability to
decades to provide the industry with excellent assure quality food product and are unable to
tools for the control of food safety. The achieve the desired market share, competitive
framework of risk analysis has been proposed advantage, growth and profitability. Thus, the
as the common way to evaluate risks and Food safety management system employed by
determine appropriate risk management the food industries in Nepal needs to be
interventions relating to societal public health strengthened through capacity and
goals (Gorris et al., 2006). infrastructural investment to assure safe
production and delivery of the food.
The potential for food and beverages cross- Furthermore, government needs to promote
contamination may occur at any and all food the certification systems in food businesses to
processing steps including transportation from reduce the issues imposing risk on food safety.
the farm fields to processing facilities,
processing steps in the food manufacturing 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
facilities (due to deficient SSOPs, lack of This study was conducted from April to May
personnel training, deficient GHPs, deficient 2022 to investigate the food safety status and
good process practices (GPP), food packaging implementation of Food Safety Management
and storage. Foodborne illness outbreaks are Systems in various food production
the result of the likely risk of contamination of companies across seven provinces of Nepal.
food products during processing and The study employed a cross-sectional survey
packaging and storage activities. Therefore, design.
the identification of the root causes of
contamination is crucial to understand the Data collection was primarily conducted
likely sources and paths of contamination of through self-administered questionnaires that
foodborne outbreaks and product recalls (Lee consisted of both open and closed-ended
et al., 2021). questions. The questionnaires were distributed
to the owners, managers/supervisors of the
Food industries in Nepal are scattered in the food manufacturing industries, and face-to-
various parts of the country. The small scale face interviews were conducted with the
industries with less capital and simpler officials working in the field of food safety
technology generating employment at local from the Government of Nepal. The
level are based on processing of fruits and questionnaire was designed based on basic
vegetables, milk and milk products, meat and current food safety status and implementation
meat products, grain mill products, bakery of Food safety management systems. The
products, oil and fats, beverages, spices, questions focused on various aspects of food
noodles, tea and confectionaries, etc. The safety, including food handling practices,
medium and large scale industries are based quality control procedures, and compliance
on mineral and processed drinking water, with food safety regulations.
instant noodles, alcoholic and non-alcoholic
beverages, biscuit, fruits and vegetables, ghee 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
and oil etc. The global food trade has entered 3.1 Global context of food safety
into a new era after establishment of World certification and Nepal
Trade Organization. The introduction of SPS Global consumers are worried about the safety
and TBT Agreement has made imperative for of their food which is mostly caused by a
the need of quality assurance system to be continuing sequence of food scandals and
replaced by preventive and proactive incidents in the food business. In response,
approaches such as GMP and HACCP. consumers are calling for high quality food,
(Shrestha & Joshi, 2007). food integrity, safety guarantees and
transparency. Similarly, governments are
In context of Nepal, still a large number of imposing new laws and legislations and
food business operators haven’t successfully retailers are imposing new demands on their
implemented food safety and quality supply chains. Food supply chains react by
management systems within their implementing systems to improve the
organizations, as a result, food industries are

196 | The Journal of Agriculture and Environment, Vol: 25, December 2024
product's quality and guarantee its safety, at companies to differentiate their products on
the same time making it more transparent and the basis of quality characteristics to protect
reliable (Beulens et al., 2005). and gain market share when competing in
national and regional markets (Smith, 2009).
In this era of globalization, food supply chains As a result, private standards and certification
extend beyond national borders, evolution systems have emerged to bridge this gap and
partly facilitated by new processed food and respond to regulatory developments.
an environmental policy that is friendlier Generally, they are based on coordinated
towards international food trade. While systems to meet consumer demand for quality
public standards, considered to be minimum characteristics based on product
standards of quality, protect the consumer, differentiation and market segmentation
they often do not allow food industry (Fulponi, 2006).

Food Safety Management System FSMS

Prerequisite Food Fraud

Safe Design HACCP
Programmes Food Defense
POSITIVE FOOD SAFETY CULTURE

SYSTEM S THINKING
Essential Management Practices

• Management Commitment / Leadership

• Roles and Responsibilities
• Training and Education
• Resource Management
• Documentation
• Supplier/ customer Partnerships
• Continuous Improvement

= Direct element of food safety management

= Element that is partly food safety focused

Figure 1. The interaction between FSMS, necessary good management practices, positive food
safety culture and systems thinking (Wallace et al., 2018)

In order that a food company is able to (Kafetzopoulos et al., 2013; Motarjemi &
conform to food safety specifications and Mortimore, 2005).
requirements, food safety systems (FSS) have
been created and launched worldwide. More Ensuring food safety in today's complex food
specifically, in the food industry, FSS that are chain is a daunting task, and is possible only
based on the HACCP principles (Hazard with the concerted effort of all sectors
Analysis and Critical Control Points) or on the including government, consumer
more recently launched ISO 22000 standard. organizations and industry. Some quality
These are applied to ensure food safety, to assurance systems such as GMP, HACCP,
prevent liability claims and to build and ISO, BRC and GFSI, frequently found in the
maintain the trust of consumers food industry, are obligatory by law, and

197 | The Journal of Agriculture and Environment, Vol: 25, December 2024
others are implemented voluntarily by the have a poor understanding of food
food chain members (Sikora & Strada, 2005). management systems and limited adoption
and implementation. Most of the food
The concept of processed food industry is processing industries are scattered in various
evolving in Nepal but is still at developing parts of the country with less capital, simpler
stage adapting indigenous technology in most technology and without any food safety
of the business units. In Nepal, most of the management systems. Most of them are based
available processed foods consists of cereal on processing of fruits and vegetables, milk
foods (̣processed rice, milled rice, flour, and milk products, meat and meat products,
beans, pulses), dry foods (̣nuts, spices, tea, grain mill products, bakery products, oil and
pickles, biscuits, snack foods, sugar, fats, beverages, spices, noodles, tea and
confectionery) and wet acidic foods (̣canned confectionaries, etc. Lack of knowledge, lack
fruits, fruit juices, beer, wine, soft drinks, of product specific guidelines, limited
yoghurt, jam, jelly, squash and sauces). For investment potential and lack of motivation
quality assurance of their products many food for upgrading the existing quality status are
industries elsewhere have started to adopt some of the main challenges for the food
different food safety management methods. industries in Nepal to lead them for a
Good manufacturing practices (GMP) serves certification system. Likewise, most of the
as the backbone in food safety and is gaining industries in Nepal run with limited capital
popularity among Nepalese food which hinders them from investing both time
manufacturing sectors. To provide greater and cost for installing food safety
assurance of food safety, hazard analysis and management systems. Considering the fact
critical control points (HACCP) program is that many food processing industries in Nepal
also introduced in some industries and few are even do not meet the criteria to get a food
assigned with quality standard mark as NS. license from DFTQC, implementing a food
Apart from that, new concept of quality safety management system would require a
management like ISO 22000 is also adapted in huge effort in the present scenario. However,
some food industries. there are few large scale food based industries
as well which are based on mineral and
3.2 Overall status of food safety management processed drinking water, instant noodles,
system in Nepal beer, biscuit, ghee and oil etc where food
Implementation of food safety programmes safety management systems (HACCP/ISO
has been difficult for small and medium sized 2200/ GMP) or Nepal Standard (NS) are
food companies (SMEs) in Nepal, taking into implemented to assure the quality of finished
consideration specific practices witnessed products which can be listed as below in Table
amongst Nepali food producers. Small and 1.
medium sized food business operators tend to

Table 1. List of major food industries implementing food safety management systems

S.N. Name/Address of Food Industry Food product

1. Super Quality Meat Processing Industries P. Meat and meat products
Ltd., Butwal, Rupandehi
2. Barun Beverage (Nepal) P. Ltd., Ramgram, Carbonated beverage, Processed drinking water
Nawalparasi
3. Ten star Food Products, Devadaha, Chowmein, Sauce
Rupandehi
4. Mega Food and Beverage P. Ltd., Processed drinking water
Siddarthanagar, Rupandehi
5. Yasodha Foods P. Ltd., Tilottama, Rupandehi Noodles, Cheese balls, Potato cracker
6. S.R. Food P. Ltd, Omsatiya, Rupandehi Wheat flour, Maida
7. Kwality Food and Snacks Industries P. Ltd., Biscuit, Confectionery, Wafers etc.
Duhabi, Sunsari

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 8. Kwality Diet and Food Products P. Ltd., Biscuit, Confectionery, Wafers etc.
Duhabi, Sunsari
9. Mist Valley Tea Industries P. Ltd., Deumai, Tea
Ilam
10. Nepal small Tea Producers Ltd., Fikkal, Ilam Tea
11. Gorkha Tea Estate P. Ltd., Fikkal, Ilam Tea
12. Nepal Green and Speciality Tea P. Ltd., Tea
Pashupatinagar, Ilam
13. Himal Chiya Udhyog P. Ltd., Biratnagar, Tea
Morang
14. Siddhibinayak Tea Industries P. Ltd., Fikkal, Tea
Ilam
15. Swastik Oil Industries P. Ltd., Tankisinwari Oil
16. Vikas Food Products P. Ltd., Kohalpur, Wheat flour
Banke
17. C.G Food Enterprises, Basgadhi, Bardiya Noodles
18. Sitaram Gokul Milks P. Ltd., Kathmandu Milk and milk products
19. Sundarijal Mineral Water Plant, Mineral water
Gokarneshwor, Kathmandu
20. Himalayan Spring Water Inc., Mulpani, Mineral water
Kathmandu
21. Swastik Oil Industries, Hattimuda, Morang Oil

3.3 Legal provisions and past efforts to ensuring higher standards and better
promote food certification in Nepal compliance across the food industry.
In Nepal, there are no mandatory legal
provisions for the system certification of food Apart from this, GMP and GHP’s are
industries till now, however, Government of mandatory in certain commodities like
Nepal has enforced various acts, regulations, processed drinking water, dairy industries,
directives, guidelines which are still meat processing industries and in hotel and
functional for assuring safety of the food restaurants. Furthermore, Food Safety Policy-
products. For instance, Food Act- 2023, Food 2019 has been brought into action by the
Regulations- 2027, Directives on Export Government of Nepal since 2019 which has
Import Inspection and Quality Certification envisioned to promote food safety in Nepal by
System in Nepal- 2007, Dietary Supplement upgrading all concerned organizations
Regulation Guidelines- 2016, Directives on including the Government Authority,
Meat Products Processing Industry- 2017, Organizations in the food chain and the
Directives on Processed Drinking Water consumers. The main purpose of the Policy is
Industries- 2017, Directives on Categorization to develop a regulatory system to monitor and
of hotels, restaurants, canteens based on food control food safety at all levels and protect the
safety- 2017, Directives on Safety of Milk and right of the people to get safe and quality food.
Milk Products- 2018, NepalGAP Similarly, it will help to develop the
Implementation Directives- 2019 etc. are organizations in the food chain to ensure food
some legislations formulated by Government safety and quality of their products which will
to assure food safety and quality. Department ultimately help to decrease the import of food
of Food Technology and Quality Control products and support the export.
(DFTQC) is the major governmental
institution responsible for the food safety and 3.4 Factors influencing food quality
quality management in Nepal. Recently, the management system implementation
Government of Nepal enacted the new Food Many researchers have revealed the factors
Safety and Standards Act, 2081, set to replace that influenced positively or negatively the
the outdated Food Act, 2023. This new food quality management system
legislation aims to modernize and strengthen implementation in food production industries
the regulatory framework for food safety, (Vladimirov, 2011). These factors were

199 | The Journal of Agriculture and Environment, Vol: 25, December 2024
typically two groups – internal and external to food-borne cases only if it is implemented
firms (FAO/WHO, 2006), and could be appropriately, e.g. if it works efficiently. At
regarded simultaneously as incentives and the same time the introduction of a quality
barriers. To the internal factors belong the management system requires a considerable
good knowledge and information about extra work by all staff, which determines very
requirements, appropriate personnel training often its unwillingness to accept standards.
and motivation, availability of qualified (Fotopoulos et al., 2009) summarized some
specialists to deal with a great amount of common internal barriers the food companies
documentation, or to overcome difficulties faced as a lack of financial resources,
with validation and verification procedures motivated and trained personnel, skills, time
after the system implementation (Fotopoulos restrictions, resistance on behalf of both top
et al., 2009). According to Wallace and Powell management and employees to change their
(2005), the HACCP system can prevent the way of working, etc.

Figure2. Factors influencing Food Safety Management System (Pandi & Watson, 2018)

External to companies factors usually refer to system adoption depends on the stage of the
the capacity of consultancy agencies to guide development of firms, sectors, and even
the implementation of food quality systems countries.
trust to and effects of the official control,
information, environment, local 3.5 Benefits and challenges in implementing
infrastructure, etc. Researchers have agreed FSMS
that in every country, region or food chain, the Implementation of appropriate food safety
implementation of the food quality and safety management system is decided by the food
system is determined by a complex set of manufacturers depending upon the specific
factors, and each study could analyze only situations which when implemented
some of these factors (Vladimirov, 2011). The effectively not only assures the safety of the
studies demonstrated also that firms respond food but also show compliance with
differently to the obligation of the food quality regulatory and customer requirements at each
system adoption. These differences persist step in the food production chain (Trienekens
among food sectors and subsectors, food & Zuurbier, 2008). As any other systems,
retailers and catering, as well as among SMEs there are benefits and challenges in installing
and large enterprises. That is why the Food safety management systems which can
significance of factors for the food safety be described in Figure 3.

200 | The Journal of Agriculture and Environment, Vol: 25, December 2024
 Benefits Challenges

• Increases food safety and quality • Implementation costs

• Increases customer satisfaction • Legal requirements
• Increases product shelf life • Increased employee number
• Production cost reduction • Volume of paperwork
• Improvement of employee
• Employee qualification
motivation
• Time limitation
• Access to international trade
• Sales volume improvement • Internal resistance to change
• Management image improvement • Difficulties in applying FSMS
tools and methodologies
• Employee skill improvement
• Interpretation requirements
• Reduces food waste
• Training requirements
• Offer a defense against a lawsuit
• Top level management
• Business results improvement
commitment

Figure 3. Benefits and Challenges of implementing FSMS.

3.6 Way Forward implementing FSMS. Fundamental to food

In case of Nepal, there are still many areas to safety management is the training and
improve like infrastructure development, education of the staff. Training and education
upgrading of laws/regulations, awareness of are the stepping stones in food safety
people to ensure food safety. Considering the management: they link theory to practice.
current situation of Nepal, resources such as From employees to managers, perception of
technical, financial and infrastructure are the risk, attitude, and skills are key determining
major factors serving as barriers in the factors in their practice. The same is true in
implementation of Food safety management relation to consumers, regulatory authorities,
systems in food industries. From and other stakeholders in society who have a
government’s perspective, it seems very role in food safety. None of the scientific
important to make legal compulsions of ISO expertise, management systems, regulatory
22000, GMP and HACCP systems requirements, and experiences will be useful
implementation for food industries in ensuring safety, if the people who have to
considering product safety and their export implement them are not knowledgeable,
potential. Likewise, general as well as product trained, motivated, or empowered to do so
specific guidelines can be prepared for (Lelieveld et al., 2016).
adoption in food industries which could guide
for the implementation of GMP. After Furthermore, government can make policies
certification of GMP from DFTQC or sub- to encourage ISO/GMP/HACCP consultation
ordinate offices, the provision of renewal of and certification service providers to extend
food license would ultimately bring the their service in cost effective manner to
uniformity as well as convenience in food support small and medium scale food
control system. Similarly, guidelines adhering industries.
to HACCP or ISO principles can be adopted
and customized for Nepalese food industries,
serving as a foundation for the implementation 4. CONCLUSION
of Food Safety Management Systems. In Nepal, still a large number of food
industries haven’t implemented food safety
Apart from this, government can provide management systems which is necessary for
special subsidies and specific FSMS training ensuring food safety and facilitating the
programs to the industries interested in

201 | The Journal of Agriculture and Environment, Vol: 25, December 2024
international trade due to various reasons such systems. Gradually, food industries should be
as: cost of implementation, lack of knowledge enforced to improve the necessary
of benefits of FSMS, lack of training and infrastructure to maintain Good Hygienic
qualification, volume of paper work, lack of Practices during pre-inspection for license for
PRPs (pre-requisite programs), not enough new industries and license renewal for running
support from competent authorities etc. industries. Likewise, food industries should be
Therefore, in order to promote the adoption enforced to recruit competent manpower to
and implementation of food safety implement such systems. Additionally,
management systems in food industries private labs should be encouraged to be
(especially small and medium) Government established and accredited which should be
should formulate food safety policies in favor able to analyze critical food safety hazards
of educating senior managers the potential like pesticides, veterinary drugs, mycotoxins
benefits of food safety management systems and heavy metals. Additionally, various
for their firms. Additionally, Government government institutions for monitoring and
should disseminate information on the controlling food safety at different levels
successful adoption of such systems and the should coordinate and interact with
need to focus Government resources on institutions that are working in the area of food
assisting smaller firms for the adoption and production, quality certification and food
implementation of food safety management safety.

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