For many small producers of fruits and vegetables, the quality control system is represented by the eye of the owner. He knows his farms, knows his customers, and knows what will sell in his markets. However, as the producers become larger, and particularly if they wish to compete in an international marketplace, the quality requirements become more rigorous, and a quality control system becomes very difficult to design and implement in a location that has no culture of quality.
        
This describes the situation that was recently found in Moldova by Novelle principal, Henry Winogrond. He had led a team several months before that helped to design the engineering and economic models of vegetable packing plants (see Novelle News Article, “Vegetable Packing Plant Design in Moldova”), in an effort to assist the producers of Moldova to become more competitive in their shipments to their neighboring countries in Europe. However, the history of fruit and vegetable production in Moldova was similar to that of any “ command economy “. For several decades, the fruit and vegetable growers of Moldova were told by the officials in Moscow what to grow, how much to grow, and where it should be shipped. The concept of quality never entered into the equation.
        
Working together with the Ministry of Agriculture and USAID, CNFA ( the Committee for the Network of Foreign Affairs ) designed and held a one day conference in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, with a goal of “Building a Culture of International Quality Standards for Fruits and Vegetables in Moldova”. Several topics were addressed, including definitions of quality, the necessity of producing top quality in the current European marketplace, the costs of not producing top quality, and a review of current European quality standards.

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