HACCP

Introduction:

HACCP has its origins in the US manned space flight programme of the 1960s and '70s. It was vital that the food provided for astronauts was completely free from foodborne pathogens and other hazards, since any illness in flight would have serious consequences. NASA, in collaboration with the Pillsbury Company, therefore adapted analytical techniques used to anticipate failures in the engineering industry to develop the first HACCP system.

This early version of HACCP has since been further developed by the food industry and over the last 20 years it has been widely adopted by many food manufacturers. More recently, HACCP has increasingly become a basic requirement of complying with food safety regulations in many countries.

Terminology about HACCP

Hazard.
SEE Food Safety Hazard.

A biological, chemical, or physical agent that is reasonably likely to cause illness or injury in the absence of its control.

A biological, chemical or physical agent in, or condition of, food with the potential to cause an adverse health effect.

Control measure - An action or an activity that can be used to prevent, eliminate, or reduce a food safety hazard to an acceptable level.

Corrective action - An action to be taken when loss of control at a CCP is indicated by monitoring.

Critical Control Point (CCP) - A step in the production process at which control can be applied and is essential to prevent, eliminate, or reduce a food safety hazard to an acceptable level.

A point, step, or procedure in a food process at which control can be applied and, as a result, a food safety hazard can be prevented, eliminated, or reduced to acceptable levels.

Means a point, step, or procedure in a food process at which control can be applied, and a food safety hazard can as a result be prevented, eliminated, or reduced to acceptable levels.

Critical limit - A predetermined value for a control measure marking the division between acceptability and unacceptability.

Hazard - A biological, chemical, or physical agent in, or property of, food that has the potential to cause an adverse effect on consumer health.

Hazard analysis - The process of collecting and assessing information on the hazards and the conditions leading to their presence to determine which are significant for food safety and should therefore be addressed in the HACCP plan.

Monitoring - Conducting a planned sequence of observations or measurements of control parameters to assess whether a CCP is under control.

Step - A raw material, location, procedure, operation or stage in the food production process from primary production to final consumption.

HACCPplan.
The written document which is based upon the principles of HACCP and which delineates the procedures to be followed.

A document prepared in accordance with the principles of HACCP to ensure control of hazards which are significant for food safety in the segment of the food chain under consideration.

HACCPsystem.

 The result of the implementation of the HACCP Plan.

The HACCP plan in operation, including the HACCP plan itself.

HACCPteam.
The group of people who are responsible for developing, implementing and maintaining the HACCP system.

Hazardanalysis.
The process of collecting and evaluating information on hazards associated with the food under consideration to decide which are significant and must be addressed in the HACCP plan.

 Validation - Obtaining evidence that the elements of the HACCP plan are effective.

Verification - The application of supplementary information, including methods, tests and other evaluations, in addition to monitoring to determine the effectiveness of the HACCP plan

Principle of HACCP

The seven principles of HACCP have been universally accepted by government agencies, trade associations and the food industry around the world:

1. Analyze hazards. Potential hazards associated with a food and measures to control those hazards are identified. The hazard could be biological, such as a microbe; chemical, such as a toxin; or physical, such as ground glass or metal fragments.
2. Identify critical control points. These are points in a food's production--from its raw state through processing and shipping to consumption by the consumer--at which the potential hazard can be controlled or eliminated. Examples are cooking, cooling, packaging, and metal detection.
3. Establish preventive measures with critical limits for each control point. For a cooked food, for example, this might include setting the minimum cooking temperature and time required to ensure the elimination of any harmful microbes.
4. Establish procedures to monitor the critical control points. Such procedures might include determining how and by whom cooking time and temperature should be monitored.
5. Establish corrective actions to be taken when monitoring shows that a critical limit has not been met--for example, reprocessing or disposing of food if the minimum cooking temperature is not met.
6. Establish procedures to verify that the system is working properly--for example, testing time-and-temperature recording devices to verify that a cooking unit is working properly.

      7.Establish effective recordkeeping to document the HACCP system. This   would include records of hazards and their control methods, the monitoring of safety requirements and action taken to correct potential problems. Each of these principles must be backed by sound scientific knowledge: for example, published microbiological studies on time and temperature factors for controlling foodborne pathogens.