HACCP
Definitions
Before getting to the heart of the HACCP matter, it is necessary to know the meaning of the definitions used:
CCP Decision Tree a list of questions useful to determine whether a control point is a CCP.
To Control to manage the conditions of an operation so that they comply with established criteria to check where correct procedures are being followed and criteria are being met.
Control Measure everything done to prevent, reduce or eliminate hazards.
Control Point any step at which biological, physical and chemical factors may be controlled.
Corrective Action what is done in order to cope with deviations.
Critical Control the step at which control is essential to prevent
Point (CCP) or eliminate a food safety hazard or to reduce it to an ac- ceptable level.
Critical Limit the extreme limit at which biological, physical or chemical factors may reach a CCP.
Deviation failure to meet a critical limit.
HACCP the systematic approach to the identification, evoluation and control of food safety hazards.
HACCP Plan written document based on the HACCP Principles, describ- ing the procedure to be followed.
HACCP System the result of the realization of the HACCP Plan.
HACCP Team people responsible for the development of the HACCP System.
Hazard a biological, physical or chemical agent which may cause illness or injury if uncontrolled.
Hazard Analysis the collection and evaluation of information about possible hazards of the considered food, made in order to decide which must be addressed in the HACCP Plan.
H.A.C.C.P. Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point
The quality of food and drinks depends on many factors, which range from the market specifications of raw materials to the working environment, from the staff’s professional skills to the sanitary measures taken in the process of manufacture. Particularly in the food trade, healthfulness is the foundamental requisite of products: food may be more or less nourishing, tasteful and expen- sive, but it must absolutely be healthy.
In order to assure food safety from harvest to consumption, in 1995 the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Critiria for Foods (Committee) organized a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Working Group, who had to review the Committee’s HACCP document, dated November 1992, comparing it to the HACCP guidance made by the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene.
As a consequence of this comparison, the Committee made a more concise list of HACCP principles and definitions, added sections on prerequisite programs, on education and training and on implementation and maintenance of the HACCP plan, explaining in a detailed way the application of HACCP principles. Besides it provided a decision tree for identifying critical control points (CCPs).
In the HACCP plans, the paramount goal is preventing problems from oc- curing and in order to meet this goal, the whole HACCP system is built upon a solid foundation of prerequisite programs, and it is developed following seven basic principles.
Prerequisites
Each segment of the food industry has to provide the protection of food while it is under its control, which has traditionally been accomplished through the application of cGMPs programs (current Good Manufacturing Practices). Now, these practices are considered to be prerequisite to the development and imple- mentation of effective HACCP plans and provide the basic environmental and operating conditions necessary to the production of safe, wholesome food.
Prerequisite programs may include:
Facilities the establishment should be located, built and main- tained according to sanitary rules. Linear product flow and traffic control must be organized to minimize cross-contamination from raw to cooked materials.
Supplier Control each concern should assure to address to suppli- ers having in place effective Goods Manufacturing Practices and food safety programs, both by means of continuing supplier guarantee, and of supplier
Cleaning and Sanitation all procedures for cleaning and sanitation of the equipment should be followed and written in a master sanitation schedule
Personal Hygiene all persons entering the manufacturing plant should follow the requirements for personal hygiene.
Training all employees should be subjected to documented training in personal hygiene, Goods Manufacturing Practices, cleaning and sanitation procedures, personal safety. They should also realize they are playing a role in the HACCP program.
Chemical Control documented procedures should assure the segregation and proper use of non-food chemicals (i.e. cleaning chemicals, fumigants, pesticides, ….) in or around the plant.
Receiving all raw materials should be stored under sanitary conditions and the proper environmental condition (i.e. temperature, humidity, …) to assure their safety and wholesomeness.
Traceability and Recall all raw materials and products should be coded. There should be such a recall system as to permit complete traces and recalls, when required.
Pest Control effective pest control programs should be done.
Many conditions and practices of prerequisite programs are specified in federal, state and local regulations and guidelines (e.g. cGMPss and Food Code), while the basic conditions and practices expected for foods intended for international trade are described in the Codex Alimentarius General Principles of Food Hy- giene. Besides official regulations, industries often adopt policies and procedures which are specific to their operations and are concerned with the safety of the food, but also with its being wholesome and suitable for consumption. From this point of view, HACCP plans have a more limited goal: in fact they only ensure food is safe to consume.
Among the various practices which may be considered as prerequisites to the success of a HACCP system, education and training are surely essential. As a matter of fact, educating and training management and employees in the importance of their role in producing safe food are the basis on which the whole HACCP sys- tem is founded. That is why as employees must first understand what HACCP is and then learn the skills necessary to make its function properly, specific training activities should include working instructions and procedures that outline the tasks of employees monitoring each CCP, together with the material and equipment necessary to perform these tasks.
Preliminary Tasks
Before applying the HACCP principles to a specific product and process, five preliminary tasks need to be accomplished. They are:
ASSEMBLE the HACCP team
This team must consist of individuals with specific knowledge and expertise ap- propriate to the product and process, as it is the team’s responsibility to develop the HACCP plan.
It should be multi disciplinary, including individuals from engineering, produc- tion, sanitation, quality assurance and food microbiology. It should also include local personnel involved in the operation.
The HACCP team may need assistance from outside experts, knowledgeable in the potential biological, chemical and physical hazards associated with the product and the process. These experts should be able to conduct a hazard analysis, identify potential hazards, identify hazards which must be controlled, recommend controls, critical limits and procedures for monitoring and verifications; recommend the right corrective action in the case of a deviation, recommend research if important information is not known, and validate the HACCP plan.
DESCRIBE the Food and its Distribution
The HACCP team must first give a general description of food, ingredients and processing methods. Also the method of distribution should be described, after specifying whether food is to be distributed frozen, refrigerated or at ambient temperature.
DESCRIBE the Intended Use and Consumers of the Food
The team must describe the expected use of the food; the intended consumers may be the general public or a particular segment of the population (e.g. infants …).
DEVELOP a Flow Diagram which describes the Process
The team must provide a clear, simple outline of all the steps of the process, which are directly under the control of the establishment, together with the steps in the food chain which are before and after the processing in the establishment. This flow diagram must be simple, but sufficiently descriptive.
ExAmPlE of A flow DiAgrAm for THE ProDuCTion of frozEn CookED mEAT
1. Receiving 2. Grinding↓
3. Mixing↓
4. Forming↓
5. Cooking↓
6. Freezing↓
7. Boxing↓
8. Distributing↓
9. Reheating↓
10. Serving↓
VERIFY the Flow Diagram
The team must perform a direct review of the operation, verifying the accu- racy and the completeness of the flow diagram and, if necessary, it must make modifications to it, documenting them.
HACCP Principles
HACCP is a systematic approach to the identification, evaluation and control of food safety hazards, based on the following seven principles:
1) Conduct a hazard analysis
2) Determine the critical control points (CCPs) 3) Establish critical limits
4) Establish monitoring procedures 5) Establish corrective actions 6) Establish verification procedures
7) Establish record-keeping and documentation procedures
After the preliminary tasks have been completed, the HACCP team may apply the seven principles of HACCP, that is to say:
Principle 1: the team must conduct a hazard analysis to identify hazards reasonably likely to cause injury or illness, and eventual appro- priate control measures. Ingredients, raw materials, each steps in the process, product storage and distribution, final preparation and use by the consumer too are to be considered as objects of the hazard analysis.
As a matter of fact, only basing on a thorough hazard analysis, a satisfactory HACCP plan may be prepared.
The process of conducting a hazard analysis involves two stages:
the first is hazard identification. During this stage the HACCP team studies the ingredients used in the product, all the activities of the process and the equipment used, the final product, its storage and distribution, the intended use and consumers. Basing on this review, the team develops a list of potential biological, chemical or physical hazards which may be introduced, increased or controlled at each step in the production process.
Stage two is hazard evaluation: the HACCP team decides which potential hazards must be considered in the HACCP plan. During this stage each potential hazard is evaluated from the point of view of the seriousness of its possible consequences and of its likely occurence.
As a result of the hazard analysis, the hazards found in each step of the production of the food must be listed along with any measures which may be used to control the hazard. Not all hazards can be prevented, but nearly all can be controlled.
Principle 3: the team must establish critical limits. A critical limit is a max- imum (or minimum) value to which a biological, chemical or physical parameter must be controlled at a CCP, to prevent, eliminate or reduce to acceptable level the occurence of a food safety hazard. It is used to distinguish between safe and unsafe operating conditions at a CCP.
All critical limits must be scientifically based.
Principle 4: the team establishes monitoring procedures. Monitoring is a planned sequence of observations or measurements to assess whether a CCP is under control and to produce an accurate record for future verification.
It is essential to food safety management, because it facilitates tracking of the operation; it determines when there is a loss of control and a deviation occurs at a CCP. It also provides written documentation to any possible verification. People who monitor CCPs must be trained in the monitoring technique for which they are responsible and of which they must fully understand the purpose and importance. They must accurately report the results of monitoring.
Principle 5: the team establishes corrective actions, because, where a de- viation from established critical limits is discovered, correc- tive actions are necessary. So, the team must determine and correct the cause of non-compliance and the disposition of non-compliant product and record the corrective actions that have been taken.
Specific corrective actions should be developed in advance for each CCP and included in the HACCP plan, in order to define what is to be done when a deviation occurs, who is responsi- ble for implementing the corrective actions, and to record the actions taken.
The responsibility for oversight of corrective actions should be assigned to individuals who fully understand process, product and HACCP plan. They may be helped by experts.
Principle 6: the team must establish verification procedures, which are all those activities that determine the validity of HACCP plan and prove that the system is operating according to the plan.
Firms should rely on frequent reviews of their HACCP plan, controlling that it is being correctly followed, and of CCP monitoring, and on corrective action records.
One of the most important verification procedures is the initial validation of the HACCP plan to determine that it is scientifically and technically sound, that all hazards have been identified and that if the HACCP plan is properly implement- ed, these hazards will be effectively controlled. To validate the HACCP plan, information are needed, along with expert advice, scientific studies, in-plant observations, measurements and evaluations.
All Things Considered …
HACCP is a management system in which food safety is studied through the analysis and control of biological, chemical and physical hazards from raw material production, procurement and handling, to manufacturing, distribution and con- sumption of the finished product. For the success of a HACCP plan, management must be strongly committed to the HACCP concept.
HACCP is designed for use in all branches of the food industry, from grow- ing, harvesting, processing, manufacturing, distributing and merchandising to preparing food for consumption, that is why food safety systems based on the HACCP principles have been successfully applied in food processing plants, retail food stores and food service operations. They have also been universally accepted by government agencies, trade associations and the food industry all around the world.
