Journal of Tea Science Research. 2015, Vol. 5, No. 6, 1-14
2
mainly concentrated in the central highlands and
southern inland areas of the country which can be
broadly categorized according to elevations, with
high grown lands ranging from 1200 m upwards,
medium grown tea fields covering between 600 m to
1200 m and low grown tea fields from sea level up
to 600 m (Williges, 2004).
The major problem encountered in the improvement
was production and development of infrastructure,
because cost of production (COP) was being highest
among tea producing countries, whereas the
profitability is comparatively less.
The corporate
sector has the highest COP which basically depends
on the cost of green leaves and which in turn is
dependent on the productivity of the field, wages,
plucker intake, cost of other inputs such as weeding,
fertilizing and transportation costs. The current rate
of a green leaf 1kg was found to be around LKR
75.00 – 80.00 and plucking cost was about LKR
25.00 per 1kg. Accordingly, the total gross cost of
the green leaf per 1kg was about LKR 60.00 where
corporate sector has lower profitability rates due to
the many other overheads accumulated while
manufacturing process up to the auction. On the
other hand, smallholder sector operates in different
models where household labour is mostly utilized in
many of the crop management and plucking
operations as well as transport.
Nonetheless, consumer awareness on product safety
is stronger. World food crises that prevailed in the
past decades resulted doubts in the consumer’s mind
thereby causing lack of trust and confidence in
products placed on the market. Fortunately, most of
the companies have already given special attention
on the product quality and consumer safety. A lot of
good practices have been developed and implemented
on a voluntary basis by manufacturers. These
practices ensure achieving product safety satisfactorily
(The Traceability Blue Book, 2004). Companies
continuously challenge their internal quality systems
and work on continuous improvement, thanks to
new technologies and ways of working.
Considering these food safety problems and trade
issues generated over the time, the International
Standard Organization developed the ISO 22000
Food Safety Management System (FSMS) to
harmonize the requirements of various food safety
standards into integrated system while eliminating
lots of trade issues faced on exports. The new
standard ensures the complete food safety of entire
food supply chain while satisfying global food
safety statutory and regulatory requirements.
ISO 22000 is a quality assurance system introduced
by ISO, to ensure consumer safety through food
safety while eliminating trade issues, which is a
further development of hazard analysis critical
control point (HACCP) and other available food
safety/quality assurance systems that ensures the
food safety of entire food supply chain from farm to
fork. ISO 22000 is a federative standard which
harmonized the most of the food safety requirements
set by different global standards and compatible
with any food safety regulation worldwide.
ISO 22000 has been developed basically merging
good manufacturing practices (GMP), HACCP and
ISO 9001. Here the foundation layer is consist of
GMP/GHP/GAP, Codex General Principles of Food
Hygiene and Prerequisite programs which altogether
creates very sound infrastructure and physical
requirements to implement food safety requirements
inside the plant focusing on basic food hygiene
standards.
The total food safety is achieved through HACCP
system of Codex Alimentarius using its seven
principles to identify hazards and to control them
under strict management plan. This includes the
hazard analysis, identification of critical control
points, establishment of critical control limits,
monitoring procedures, corrective actions, record
keeping and verification activities. However, these
requirements are applied through mandatory food
safety procedures. In addition, same procedures and
activities are applied to the prerequisite programs
and operational prerequisite programs identified
according to the risk levels of the product manufactured.
The most effective food safety systems are established,
operated and updated within the framework of a
