The Hygiene Management System (HMS) is a regulated basic food safety system applicable to registered South African abattoirs. There is however, no specific requirement within the HMS that specifies continual improvement (CI). Continual improvement within management systems is critical to ensure that these systems remain relevant, efficient and effective over time. The purpose of this research is to determine the extent to which the HMS requirements facilitate CI and to suggest, if necessary, an approach on how the concept may be realized in practice.
This study was conducted in two parts. The first part of the study developed continual improvement criteria benchmarking the ISO 9000 series. These criteria were then compared against the HMS requirements to determine the theoretical extent to which the HMS supports continual improvement. The second part of the study empirically tested the existing requirements of the HMS that support continual improvement.
This research demonstrates that the HMS is, first designed to support CI to a limited extent and second is not, in practice, implemented towards CI.
This paper presents regulators with gaps that exist within the present regulated HMS requirements in support of CI. It also provides abattoir managers with broad guidelines on how their implemented HMS can be designed towards CI. The research results may foster improvement within the regulated requirements of the HMS and implementation thereof towards improved handling and processing of safe meat at South African abattoirs.
