When we use the term “process control” in food manufacturing, we evoke the idea of sophisticated manufacturing control systems and elaborate statistical graphs of microbiological or other analytical data. This is certainly the mainstream method of operations when detail is critical to the food-safety systems, such as temperature or pH control.
Nevertheless, there is a much more simplistic use for the principals of process control in the management of food safety not related to detailed data capture.
When we discuss process control, we are attempting to control the outcome of a system or process to a pre-determined level. This approach can and is used in simple manufacturing systems, such as basic good manufacturing practices (GMPs), as well as plant cleaning systems.