Background: Centralized commissaries aid QSRs play a crucial role in food quality and safety. Particularly for high-risk foods such as chicken. In Egypt, efficiency of Egyptian suppliers’ documentation, audit results, and complaint records was investigated. These approaches may not accurately reflect microbiological safety.

Aim: This study is an Egypt based case study developed and validated within central commissary supplying Quick Service Restaurants Chain (QSR) within the same country aimed to examine the relationship between documentation-based supplier evaluations system and actual microbiological safety. Our study assessed a Supplier Performance Management Framework. It integrates both microbiological evidence and QA compliance indicators.

Methods: A national QSR commissary in Egypt conducted a mixed methods case study including five poultry suppliers. In Phase 1, a baseline was assessed using the Supplier Performance Index (SPI₁). It was based on scores from audits and complaints. Alongside, a microbiological shelf-life study carried out in a commissary over a period of 0 to 72 hours. Phase 2 introduced an integrated framework. Combining quantitative microbiological monitoring and qualitative Quality Assurance Compliance Index (QACI) to improve the Supplier Performance Index (SPI₂). The analysis involved descriptive statistics, comparative and correlation tests. Also, the analysis included a process capability index (Cp, Cpk), and thematic qualitative analysis.

Results: The findings revealed a clear discrepancy between administrative compliance and microbiological performance. They were manifestly inconsistent. Suppliers with high SPI₁ scores often failed microbiological shelf-life certification within 24-48 hours. So, there was no link between QA compliance and microbiological outcomes during phase 1. After implementing the integrated framework and applying supplier-specific corrective actions usage. Three suppliers’ products were microbiologically stable for 72 hours. It enhances the classification of supplier risks. SPI₂ scores is a good indicator of food safety performance.

Conclusion: Supplier evaluation systems based exclusively on supplier documentation are insufficient to confirm the microbiological safety in centralized chicken supply chains. Using structured QA compliance metrics with laboratory microbiological data improves risk-based supplier evaluation, targeted corrective actions, and long-term improvement. The SPI2 model which developed and validated within the case study central poultry commissary system, represents a practical, evidence-based approach to improving food safety governance within QSR commissary systems.

Author:

Sherif A. Kader¹, Hussein H. EL Rashidy², Samir Y. Marouk^{3 ,}  Mai S. Mabrouk⁴