Introduction
Consumer diseases, or foodborne illnesses as they are often referred to, are a serious health concern locally and internationally. WHO stated that unsafe food kills over 200 diseases every year; the loss of life totals about 125,000. Many more develop mild to severe food borne illness half of which they cannot trace its origin.
To contain this issue, regulatory authorities and the food industry are putting measures towards assuring food safety chain right from the production farms. Amongst these management systems that are evidence based for food safety is HACCP or the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. Here we will discuss what does the HACCP mean and how it minimises the threat of food contamination at each stage.
What is HACCP?
HACCP is an abbreviation for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points and is used to ensure that safety hazards in the production and processing of food, storage as well as handling are prevented. Of particular importance is that it facilitates risk assessment and risk control at numerous critical points throughout the food business.
HACCP is an approach to food safety that was created in the 1960s for the American space program by the Pillsbury Company in cooperation with NASA and the US Army laboratories. Its purpose was to provide astronaut with safe food in space, this led to adopting a no risk approach. Since then HACCP has gained acceptance from everyone including the regulators and those from the industry.
Purpose of HACCP
The purpose of implementing a HACCP food safety management system is to:
- Evaluate risks arising from biological, chemical or physical agents at the start, during and after the food processing and distribution channel.
- Determine those activity points where measures to prevent or control these hazards can best be introduced.
- The latter should set critical limits or maximum levels acceptable for safety at every CCP.
- Develop a process to track communications or public notices (CCPs) along with enforcing defined criteria.
- Implement corrective / remedial action when criterion are not achieved.
- Record it and then ensure that the information is valid through audits and tests for the system to work.
In general, HACCP manages risks that may lead to contamination of food, food borne illness and rejection of food products because of compliance issues.
Principles of HACCP
The National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods has outlined seven core principles on which an effective HACCP system should be built:
- Hazard analysis: Recognize risk sources (biological, chemical or physical) that have to be eliminated or minimized.
- Identify critical control points (CCPs): Stages of process control at which control of a hazard is required.
- Establish critical limits for CCPs: The purity levels up to which safety measures such as the minimum internal temperature of food can be safely administered.
- Establish CCP monitoring procedures: It is important to regularly check each CCP to make sure criteria are constantly being met.
- State corrective actions: Define how to act when a critical limit is exceeded?
- Keep verification procedures: Reserve to check how the required system performs.
- Ensure record-keeping and documentation: Keep HACCP compliance records.
How HACCP Ensures Food Safety
HACCP is a preventive system from incoming raw materials to the final product delivery which identifies risks associated with food safety. Here is an overview of how it controls hazards at each stage:
Incoming Materials Inspection
The suppliers then make their approvals depending on their compliance certification. Material that are to undergo processing pass through tests and inspection for various types of hazards.
CCPs During Processing
As a result there are critical limits concerning both time and temperature in activities such as cooking, cooling, processing, packing foods so that microbial growth can be kept in check.
HYGE: Corrective and Preventive Measures
When it comes to cleaning program, the food contact surfaces are clean as required. Pests and foreign materials control are exercised. Sanitary practices of waste disposal are observed.
The management of shipping and distributionannel
Cold chain ensures that there is no bacterial contamination of the food during the transport and storage period. To avoid having spoilt stock the use by or ‘best before’ dates are observed as well as the ‘first in first out’ inventory turns principle.
Documenting and Record keeping
Every resulting procedure and HACCP and inspection, deviations, and corrective action is documented. Internal auditors assist in confirming compliance in the course of the company’s operations.
Recognizing the CCP hazards and compliance of measures by serial checking and documenting it across the system, HACCP dramatically reduces the food safety concerns that in turn protect the general populace.
Implementing HACCP
Although it was primarily designed for space projects, HACCP principles have been successfully applied in meats, poultry, seafood processing, dairy products, canned vegetables and fruits etc. It can be implemented at the producer, warehouse or storage level and food retail and service outlets depending on the size and complexity of operations.
Tailored training enables companies to make a hazard analysis of their structures and operations to build an HACCP plan in line with their organizational need. When there is a planned training followed by commitment from the management then the principles and practices of HACCP’s are integrated into the organization’s culture thereby making the HACCP approach of prevention sustainable.