HACCP Principles Food Companies Must Abide by

To improve food safety, each stage of food production should be meticulously carried out and monitored.

FREMONT, CA: The HACCP system is a scientific and systematic method for identifying, assessing, and controlling hazards in the food manufacturing process. The HACCP system incorporates food safety control into the process design rather than relying on end-product testing. As a result, the HACCP system offers a preventive and thus cost-effective approach to food safety.

The principles of a HACCP System are as follows:

Conduct a hazard study by identifying potential dangers and implementing control measures

Any biological, chemical, or physical agent in food that can cause an adverse health effect is considered a food safety hazard. Restaurateurs collect and evaluate information on hazards found in raw materials and other ingredients, the environment, the process, the food, and the conditions that lead to their presence to determine whether or not these are significant hazards and consider any measures to control identified hazards.

Identify, validate and monitor important control points (CCPs)

A crucial control point is when control can be applied to prevent, remove, or reduce a food safety concern to an acceptable level.

Not every danger and the preventative measure-identified point will become a crucial control point. A logical decision-making procedure is used to establish whether or not the process is a critical control point.

In a critical control point, the critical limit is an observable or measurable criterion that divides acceptability from the unacceptability of food. These required limits should be set and scientifically validated to show that they can control dangers to an acceptable level when correctly applied.

A HACCP system must be monitored. Monitoring involves a predefined sequence of observations or measurements to assess whether a critical control point is under control. Monitoring can alert the plant if the process loses control, allowing it to take action before reaching the limit.

Take corrective measures

Corrective action is conducted when the critical control point monitoring data show that the limit could not be met, indicating a loss of control.

Because HACCP is a preventative approach, plant management must plan ahead of time to address anticipated deviations from predefined critical limits. Whenever a key control point limit is exceeded, the plant must promptly correct it.

The plant management must plan and ensure that the remedial efforts effectively bring the CCP under control. The corrective actions must include the proper disposal of the impacted products.

Verify the HACCP plan and processes

Before implementing HACCP, it should be validated using authoritative sources' instruction or an examination of scientific literature. The HACCP plan should be reviewed to control all important risks relevant to the food company.

To ensure that the HACCP plan is followed and the hazards are adequately controlled, procedures should be established. Any changes that may affect food safety necessitate a review of the HACCP system and revalidation of the HACCP plan.

Maintain documents and records

The HACCP system requires appropriate record keeping. Hazard analysis, CCP and critical limit determination should be documented. Likewise, CCP monitoring activities, deviations, and accompanying remedial actions should be carefully documented.

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