FDST 4090/6090 and 4090L/6090L

Food Quality Control

Department of Food Science and Technology
Fall 2004

Instructor:
Dr. William C. Hurst
240C Food Science Building
Phone: (706) 542-0993

Class Periods:
Lecture 11:15 - 12:05 pm M
218 Food Science
Lab 11:15 - 1:10 pm F
218 Food Science/Computer Lab Livestock/Poultry

Final Exam:
Dec. 13 12:00 - 3:00 pm M
218 Food Science

Course Description:
The purpose of this course is to learn how to incorporate statistical techniques into traditional food quality control programs to insure continuous process/product improvements that will satisfy customer quality demands. Statistical tools will be introduced and demonstrated for organizing and interpreting data for both continuous and batch process operations, monitoring and controlling process specifications, determining process capabilities, verifying food safety procedures, and validating sampling plans for raw and finished products.

Objectives:

To review the basic statistics necessary for application work in statistical quality control.
To study graphical methods of collecting and interpreting quality control data.
To develop an understanding of probability distributions and their relationship to control charts.
To learn how to develop and analyze control charts for measurement and attribute data using mathematical formulae and a computer software program.
To study the differences between process control and process capability.
To study the concept of sampling and learn how to select appropriate sampling plans for determining quality attributes.

Laboratory Work:
Approximately 10 labs will be scheduled. Labs will be a combination of computer exercises, problem sets, tests, demonstrations, and field trips. Laboratory reports and write-ups should include a summary of what was done and the principles demonstrated and/or learned. Any homework and lab assignment not turned in within a week of the due date will not be graded.

Grading:
Lab reports/computer assignments/problem sets - 25%
Two tests - 50%
Final exam - 25%

Text:
The textbook, Quality Control, by Dale Besterfield, 5th Edition, 1998, is on reserve at the science library. It offers an intensive discussion of statistical quality control as well as practice problems and questions to answer on SQC theory at the end of each chapter.

Class/Lab Materials:
Statistical tables for solving problems will be furnished to each student. However, each student will need a scientific calculator for problem solving and a 3.5" floppy diskette which should be brought to each computer lab for data storage.

A Note on Computer Software for SQC:
In today’s food industry, some large companies have computer software programs and PC workstations that automatically perform the statistical calculations we will learn in this course. Many smaller companies, however, particularly those just beginning SQC programs, still rely on calculators and the manual construction of process control charts, etc. A fundamental danger of relying solely on computer programs to make calculations is that the user does not really understand the theoretical significance of the figures and/or graphs generated and can easily make misleading or inappropriate conclusions based on the computer results. Computers are no substitute for a thorough understanding of and training in SQC fundamentals. Therefore, in this course, we will work problems both manually as well as use Quality Analyst, a graphical software package, to generate results in the laboratory exercises.

Office Hours:
Official office hours will be announced. My office is 240C Food Science Building (1st floor of the new addition). I suggest that you call ahead for an appointment at (706) 542-0993.

Class Attendance:
Attendance will not be taken, but is encouraged, since good test and lab grades will be difficult to attain otherwise.

Academic Honesty:
In accordance with your student handbook, no outside aid will be tolerated on any material that is handed in for a grade.

LECTURE OUTLINE

(subject to change)

Chapter(s) in Besterfield

I. Quality Basics Identifying Quality Producing Quality Managing/Improving Quality Integrating Statistics into Food Quality Management	Chapter 1
II. Quality Improvement Techniques Flow Charting Pareto Chart Cause-Effect Diagram Histograms	Chapters 2 & 3
III. Basic Statistics Review Measures of Central Tendency Measures of Dispersion Types of Variation	Chapter 3
IV. Probability Distributions Probability Review Normal (Continuous) Central Limit Theorem	Chapters 3 & 6
V. Process Control Charts Use and Type Control Limits	Chapter 4
VI. Variable Control Charts Average and Range – 0 - R chart (with and without standards) Average and Standard Deviation – 0 - S chart Individual and Moving Range – * - MR chart	Chapter 4
EXAM I
VII. Probability Distributions A. Permutations and Combinations B. Binomial (discrete) C. Hypergeometric (discrete) D. Poisson (discrete)	Chapter 6
VIII. Attribute Control Charts A. Fraction defective – p chart B. Number of defective – np chart C. Number of defects – c and u charts	Chapter 7
EXAM II
IX. Process Applications A. Interpreting Chart Patterns B. Process Capability Studies C. Microbiological Applications	Chapter 4
X. Sampling Non-statistical Statistical	Chapters 5, 8 & 9
XI. FINAL EXAM – Dec. 13, 2004 12:00 - 3:00 pm

LABORATORY EXERCISES (subject to change)

Lab 1: Slide Presentation
Lab 2: Demonstration of Variation
Lab 3: Computer Lab
Lab 4: Field Trip
Lab 5: Test
Lab 6: Problem Sets
Lab 7: Computer Lab
Lab 8: Field Trip
Lab 9: Outside Speaker
Lab 10: Test