Piotr KAFEL
Cracow University of Economics, College of Management Sciences and Quality, Department of Quality Management, Krakow, Poland
Research background: Food production is more and more globalized concerning not only the suppliers of food ingredients and producers but also considering the environmental trends and solutions available on the market. Organic farming production is one of the possible responses to produce high quality food products with respect to environmental care. The other global trend described in this paper, that is focusing attention is the microplastics risk in food products. That topic is directly related to a wider range of actions taken international level such as The New Green Deal or EU plastic action plan. This paper combines the specific product (organic food) and the microplastic risk in food products.
Purpose of the article: The purpose of the study was the question, how the studied companies that are under the strict obligatory surveillance according to the organic food production rules and seals high quality products are dealing with microplastic risk in their processes. Methods: Food processing manufacturers operating on a polish market were surveyed in microplastics aspects concerning the ingredients procurement, production processes and product packaging.
Findings & Value added: The main findings are related to the conclusion that microplastic risk in organic products is new and sill not very well recognised issue. The overall risk for food safety was estimated by producers as rather low. Only 30% of respondents indicated a high or very high risk.