Introduction Food safety is a growing global concern not only because of its continuing importance for public health

but also because of its impact on international trade. The application of total quality management (TQM) provides the best possible care by continuously improving products and services to meet or possibly exceed the needs and expectations of the customer. Designing a TQM system requires a profound knowledge of the agro-food industry, while implementation ideally requires an integrated approach involving all parties in the agro-food chain. An effective HACCP program requires equally competent technologies to determine and monitor each critical point. The role of hazard characterization and risk assessment of foods cannot easily be overemphasized. An increasing number of companies are striving for a certificate, to realize both external benefits as part of their market strategy and internal benefits to open up a way to enormous improvements and efficiency. TQM is a management philosophy that is intended to empower every member of the organization. It is intended to promote continuous, sustained, and long term improvement in quality and productivity and to eliminate employees fear of change. Its basic principle is that the cost of prevention is less than the cost of correction. Bellis-Jones et. al. (1989) suggest that TQM is not just another management fad; it is capable of delivering real competitive advantage. The TQM approach integrates the fundamental techniques and principles of quality function deployment, statistical control, and existing management tools in a structured manner. By establishing a quantified deliverable cost benefit, TQM can help management to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of the use of resources across the organization. Theory of total quality can be summarized as follows: 1. Quality leads to lower costs as defects are reduced;

2. Quality is made in the boardroom, it cannot be instilled into shop floor without the initiative and commitment of top management; 3. Most defects are caused by the system not the worker;

4. Inspection is too late; aim to reduce defects during production and eliminate mass inspection; 5. Eliminate numerical quotas, slogans, exhortation and targets for the workforce and promote sustained and continuous improvement of process and quality of output; 6. Drive out fear of change from workers; institute a vigorous program of education, training, and retraining to help the workforce improve continuously and to increase their job security;

7. Break down barriers between staff areas and abandon review systems that will destroy teamwork and create rivalry; 8. End the practice of awarding business on price tag alone; look for suppliers committed to quality and develop long term relationships with them. The quality of a product or service is the result of the interaction among the individual performer, the process, and management. Many factors can get in the way of people doing a good job; some are inadequate resources, poorly designed procedures, and lack of training. An organization must examine how its product or service ultimately will be used and identify, as well as measure, the attributes that will provide the greatest overall level of customer satisfaction. Key Concept There are two key concepts in the TQM framework statistical control that uses statistical methods to control both management and product processes, and continuous improvement that involves all processes in the management, product, and service chain. Statistical process control (SPC) theory is based on the idea that process performance is dynamic, that natural up-and-down variation is the rule rather than the exception. Thus, random variation of any aspect of an average workers work can be defined by setting acceptable highs and lows, so that any variation beyond those limits can be detected, the causes studied, and corrective actions taken. Statistically, every process experiences variation that can lead to quality problems. SPC is used to measure variability of a process and to determine whether and how it can produce a particular part .The collection of data and the comparison of actual performance to the standards are necessary to identify gaps or opportunities for improvement .Tools include causeand-effect diagrams, flow charts, pareto charts, run charts, histograms, control charts, and scatter diagrams. Continuous improvement is achieved by a system designed to keep customer satisfied throughout the product or service cycle. Mathieson and Wharton suggest three levels of customer satisfaction: customers demands, expectations, and delight. The involvement of all employees in continuous improvement of the work process is the foundation of any TQM effort. All employees should view the work they do as a series of processes, the goal of each being total customer satisfaction. Thus, all members of the organization must understand their work processes, who their customers are, what their customers needs and expectations are, and how to communicate those needs and expectations to their suppliers .This often requires training to improve quality of work and quality awareness. Moreover, as processes can be analyzed to identify where errors may occur, measuring quality implicitly includes measuring the cost of non-conformance. Nevertheless, learning from errors is also a key to continuous improvement J.J. Dalton, Patient accounting not immune to quality bug. Healthcare Financial Management.