Dissertação de mestrado, Qualidade em Análises, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2014The growing demand for mussels globally has increased the competition among the producers. Production of high quality mussels demands quality controls in pre- and post-harvesting phases. The main concerns with the mussel industry relate to the pre-harvest stages where monitoring of pollution and management of production. This present work deals with designing of a laboratory at the Finisterra’s aquaculture to control the environmental conditions on the production of mussels focusing on establishing of an efficient quality system. This quality system includes top management commitment, organizational structure and systematically extensive documentation system to comply with the management requirements of the international quality standards. Whilst, the technical part of our quality system covers the environmental conditions of the laboratory, traceability of the results through calibration and quality control activities, and investment in the laboratory personnel. Such quality system will allow the laboratory to be accredited according to ISO/IEC 17025:2005. This project has been designed with enough flexibility for the Finisterra’s management to invest progressively. The base of the laboratory is wet chemistry unit which includes the routine work and preparation for the advanced analysis. Later, Finisterra can complete the work plan by investing in microbiological and advanced analysis. The key benefits stemming from implementation of this quality system are improved competiveness and reliability, increased quality awareness and teamwork. Furthermore, the laboratory will gain the confidence of the clients, researchers and governmental institutions.
Cost analysis was conducted to estimate the initial and running cost of the quality system. The initial cost is insignificant in comparison to the total laboratory cost whereas running of the quality system increases the total running cost
