Factors affecting accuracy in the quality control checking of fresh produce labels: A situational and laboratory‐based exploration

Abstract

Manufacturing industries often rely on quality control staff to ensure mistakes are detected before products are shipped to customers. Undetected errors can result in large financial and environmental costs to packaging companies and supermarkets but the contributors to such error are underexplored. The research reported in this paper investigated human error in the quality control checking of information displayed on the labels which accompany packaged fresh produce. Initial work sought to understand the demands of label‐checking in the packhouse environment, through interviews with key quality control staff, in situ observations, and the study of historical error data held by a fresh produce packaging company. This study highlighted the dynamic and cognitively challenging environment in which label‐checking occurred, while the historical error data indicated both the scale of the packhouse's work and the infrequency of error occurring. In a separate strand of laboratory‐based research, experienced and novice label‐checkers were presented with a simulated label‐checking task and a battery of computerized and pen‐and‐paper tests. These tasks were administered to determine whether cognitive abilities could predict label‐checking accuracy in a controlled laboratory environment. Stronger abilities in two cognitive processes (information processing speed and inhibition) predicted greater overall accuracy and higher detection of labeling errors. In identifying potential contributors to human error in the quality control checking of product labels both in situ and in the laboratory, the results are relevant to manufacturing, wherever information is printed on labels, especially when labeling processes depend upon human data entry and human quality control checking.

Food Packaging: Safety, Management and Quality

“…In addition to studying the historical error data held by the packaging facility, structured interviews were conducted with key pack-house staff involved in the label checking process [3]. Three or four errors were estimated to occur in the pack-house per day but the interviewees reported that most of these errors were not recorded since they had been corrected at the time of being noticed.…”

“…These findings suggested that label-checkers might draw upon higher-order cognition (or executive functions; e.g., [14,15]) in order to maintain task performance in the face of interruptions and distractions. Therefore, Smith-Spark et al [3] administered executive functioning measures (the "core" executive functions of inhibition, updating, and set shifting; e.g., [15]) as well as a measure of the speed with which information could be processed to a mixed sample of professional label-checkers and naïve university students. Inhibition relates to the ability to prevent habitual responses in favor of responses that are relevant to task at hand and current conditions.…”

“…In the course of this research program, a range of studies were carried out [1,2,3,4]. These employed different methodologies in order to gain a greater understanding of the factors that contribute to human error in quality control label-checking.…”