Abstract:
Food quality and safety is one of the seriously discussed issues in the agri-food sector. As a result of food safety control
reforms, customer requirements and regulatory changes, agri-food processing firms are adopting different forms of
food quality and safety metasystems including ISO 22000 and HACCP. Drawing from the works on expectation-disconfirmation theory, this paper advances that a firm has pre-adoption expectations of benefits when
implementing a food control system and perceived benefits based on post-adoption experience; to what extent the
expected benefits were realized by the firm. The level of satisfaction with a given food control system will depend on
the perceived performance of the system relative to firm’s expectations and this will influence firm decisions on
whether to continue with the certification into the future and also decisions that might arise on upcoming/novel
quality assurance systems in the long term. This study aimed to identify the intended benefits of implementing a food
safety metasystem and a qualitative exploratory approach was utilized. An extensive review of literature was carried
out followed by Focus Group Discussions and In-depth Interviews with three sets of respondents: managers,
academics; and quality management system auditors, and the data analyzed using N-Vivo (version 7.0) qualitative
data analysis software. The results revealed that the most common benefits expected were in the areas of market
share, corporate reputation, product shelf-life, international marketing, and as a response strategy for demands from
some specific stakeholder groups, such as the central and local governments, surrounding community and local
health inspectors.
