Establishing an HACCP plan

An HACCP system consists of seven principles. Together, they should ensure that food companies understand hazards, can identify them in the workplace and take measures to control them. To achieve this, a 12-step plan is often prescribed. This article takes a closer look at how to achieve proper hazard analysis and determine critical control points.

Risk analysis is at the very top of the HACCP principles. After all, only when you have a picture of the hazards can you formulate a plan to control them. The codex defines a risk "as a biological, chemical or physical substance in or condition of food with the potential to have an adverse effect on health. Eliminating these risks or reducing them to acceptable levels is essential to producing safe food. In addition to biological (bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, etc.), chemical (toxins present in food, pesticides, antibiotics, growth hormones, etc.) and physical (foreign substances such as glass, wood, metal, bone, etc.) hazards, one must additionally consider allergens and potential radiation.

How to conduct a risk analysis.

After listing all hazards (biological, chemical or physical) that are reasonably foreseeable at each step from primary production, processing, manufacturing and distribution to the point of consumption, the HACCP team must assess the potential significance or risk of each hazard by the probability of its occurrence as well as its severity. The risk assessment is based on a combination of experience, epidemiological data and information in the technical literature. The severity of a risk relates to the consequences if the hazard is not controlled. If there is only a low probability and low severity, then the risks need not be addressed in the HACCP system, but through GMPs. Five areas of evaluation can help identify and understand all potential hazards:

- Check incoming materials and raw materials;

- Evaluate processing steps for potential risks;

- Observe how that happens in practice;

- Take the necessary measures;

- Analyze the measures taken and make adjustments as needed.

Control measures

After the hazard analysis is complete, the team must review what control measures exist to manage each hazard. This includes all actions and activities that can serve to prevent, eliminate or reduce food safety hazards to acceptable levels. More than one measure may be needed to control a specific hazard, and there may be more than one hazard. For example, biological hazards can be controlled by limiting, removing or altering the growth kinetics of microorganisms. Consider thermal processing (heating or cooking), freezing or drying. But proper cleaning procedures are also important here.

Determining critical control points

The next step, and the second principle of HACCP is then to determine the critical control points. Codex defines a critical control point (CCP) as "a step to which control can be applied and which is essential to prevent, eliminate or reduce a food safety hazard to an acceptable level. The determination of a CCP in the HACCP system can be facilitated by the application of a decision tree such as is included in the Codex HACCP system and guidelines for its application and which provides a logical reasoning approach. The application should be flexible depending on the type of operation (production, slaughter, processing, storage, distribution or other). Nor will it be appropriate for all situations. A series of questions are asked that ultimately lead to the answer as to whether or not it is a critical control point. Once the critical control points are determined, you can document the parameters being monitored and controlled.

- Are there control measures in place?

- Is this step specifically designed to reduce the likely occurrence of the identified hazard to an acceptable level?

- Can contamination with the identified hazard occur above acceptable levels or increase to unacceptable levels?

- Will a subsequent step eliminate the identified hazard or reduce the probability of occurrence to an acceptable level?