Quality Standards | HACCP | Quality Systems

Quality Systems - HACCP

HACCP is an acronym for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (pronounced "hassip") and is a food safety program that was developed nearly 30 years ago for NASA to ensure the safety of food products that were to be used by the astronauts in the space program.

Its purpose is to prevent hazards that could introduce potentially dangerous food-born illnesses in food by applying science-based controls that cover all aspects from raw resources through preparation to final product. This differs from the traditional method of having industry and regulators perform random checks and sampling of manufacturing conditions and final products to ensure food safety. This tends to be much less effective and efficient than having a system in place that performs these tasks all the time. HACCP has been recognized by the FDA, the National Academy of Sciences, the Codex Alimentarius commission (an international food standard-setting organization) and the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods and Health Canada.

It is in use in many countries and is increasingly becoming a requirement for food manufacturers to have in order to sell their products.

HACCP is comprised of seven principles:

1. Analyze hazards - Potential hazards associated with a food and the measures required to control those hazards are identified and include biological, chemical and physical contaminants.

2. Identify critical control points - These are points in a food's production at which potential hazards can be controlled or eliminated.

3. Establish preventative measures with critical limits for each control point - These are minimum standards required for the safe preparation of food.

4. Establish procedures to monitor the critical control points - Such procedures include determining how and by whom processing standards are to be monitored.

5. Establish corrective actions to be taken when monitoring has shown that a critical limit has not been met - Either reprocessing or disposal of foods if minimum processing standards have not been met.

6. Establish procedures to verify that the system is working properly - testing and calibrating equipment to ensure its proper functioning is but one typical requirement.

7. Establish effective record keeping in order to document the HACCP system - This would include records of hazards and their control methods, monitoring of safety requirements and corrective actions taken to either prevent problems or how non-conformances are to be prevented from reoccurring. All seven principles are to be based on proven scientific research in the appropriate field in which the food processing operation is involved.

The need for HACCP is growing as the elimination of food pathogens is an important public health concern as well as an important hazard for food processors to avoid as damaged reputations to food quality can be devastating to individual companies and industries. Also, the methods of food production are becoming increasingly complex and require closer monitoring and control to ensure their effective operation. International trade has also created a greater demand for HACCP as countries are requiring more stringent standards that can restrict a food processors ability to sell their products globally.

HACCP can help in overcoming these potential barriers to trade. It is a comprehensive system that requires a substantial commitment of time, resources and expense to implement by a processor but a system that can increase the potential marketplace for a processors food products. This system, like all systems listed in the International Quality Systems Directory, is third party auditable.

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