Implementation of ISO 9000 to the food industry: an overview.

Since the early 1980s, manufacturing industries worldwide have seen a revolution in the way they operate. Consumers have become more and more demanding and the key to company/firm survival is the recognition of customers' satisfaction. In a way, companies have been forced to enhance the quality of their processes and their products. Some of them chose to establish internal quality systems whereas others have opted for employing a general quality system standard, such as the BS 5750 or the ISO 9000 series. In Greece, a great part of the companies (about 80%) employ quality system standards, among which the highest percentage (80%) belong to food manufacturing industries.