The effects of changing food quality requirements on Hungarian fruit producing farms
K. Takács-György, J. Vágány
ISHS Acta Horticulturae 604:467-472.
2003
บทคัดย่อ
The effects of changing food quality requirements on Hungarian fruit producing farms
The state of the Hungarian fruit production became worse in the last ten years, during the socio-economic transformation in Hungary. At the same time the privatization process took place in Hungary and due to the change in the ownership, a small farm structure was created. The aim of authority control of fresh fruit for consumption is to check the quality of the products according to international regulations, and to urge the producer to produce goods that comply with the rules of the Codex Alimentarius Hungaricus. These factors are essential both for retailers, consumers and other participants of the producing and marketing process. Quality control of fruit production also involves economic advantages: it increases the trust in Hungarian products through which export possibilities expand also. In agriculture HACCP – Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points – is getting spread generally. In this paper the regulations of the European Union concerning fruit quality are compared to the regulations in force in Hungary. It has to be noted that in the recent years positive development has taken place in this field: most of our regulations can be regarded as EU conform. Hungary has already finished the EU negotiations on this field. We examine the institutional background in connection with fruit quality and try to recommend some arrangements for the governmental participants. Examining the situation of fruit quality within certain segments of retail network and the rate of certain quality control systems, we will focus on the most urgent steps to fit the EU standards. Finally, in the paper it is also investigated what effects the introduction of a quality control system has on the producing farms (costs, income, profitability, etc.).