Basic Concepts and Implementation of Hazard

Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP)

Basic Definitions
Hazard: Unacceptable contaminant, microbiological growth, or survival of
microorganisms or their toxins that would make food unsafe.
Risk: Probability that conditions will lead to a hazard.
Control point: Operation (practice, preparation step, procedure) to which a preventive
control measure can be applied.
Critical Control Point (CCP): Operation (practice, preparation step, procedure) to
which a preventive or control measure can be applied that would eliminate, prevent, or
minimize hazards.
Control measures: Activities that eliminate hazards or reduce occurrence to an
acceptable level.
Monitoring: Observations or measurements to assess whether control measures at a
critical point are being implemented effectively.
Critical limit: The value of a control measures, determined during monitoring, that
distinguishes acceptable and unacceptable.
Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP): Systematic approach to the
identification and assessment of the hazards and risks associated with a food
operation and the defining of the means to their control.

Basic Concept of HACCP

Food products are sensitive to microorganism contamination by bacteria, viruses and
parasites. After becoming contaminated, they provide an excellent environment for
growth of bacteria. Bacterial contamination and growth is a problem because it may
result in foodborne illness. To improve product safety, the food industries are adopting
a process control system known as "Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point" (HACCP).
HACCP is a food safety management system, which concentrates prevention
strategies on known hazards and risks of them occurring at specific points in the food
chain. The system improves product safety by anticipating and preventing health
hazards before they occur.

HACCP provides a system to reduce the risk of a foodborne illness outbreak by:
• Identifying

• Preventing, and
• Correcting problems throughout the flow of food.
HACCP focuses on:
• Identifying hazards

• Identifying control points from receiving through serving

1
 • Setting critical limits for critical control points
• Monitoring to evaluate the effectiveness of the control measures
• Taking corrective actions
The system helps you:
• Identify foods, hazards, and processes most likely to cause foodborne illnesses.
• Develop control points through the flow of food to reduce risks of foodborne
illness outbreaks.
• Monitor and verify food safety in your operation.

Benefits of Implementing HACCP

To the company
• Production of safer food - lower business risk

• Improved/maintained reputation
• Compliance with legislation
• Staff have clearer ideas of food safety requirements and practices
• Demonstrates company commitment to food safety
• Better staff organization/use of time
• Long term reduction in wastage (in the short term wastage costs may go up
due to corrective actions, requiring disposal of food as a result of failure to
control CCPs properly)
• Less likely to receive customer complaints
• Possible increase in market access
To Customers
• Less risk of illness

• Improved quality of life

• Greater confidence in food
To Government
• Facilitating food safety inspections/more efficient food control

• Improved public health/reduced health care costs

• Facilitates international trade

2
General Approaches to Implementation of HACCP
Developing a HACCP Plan
HACCP is a system of extensive evaluation and control over an entire food production
process for the sole purpose of reducing potential food-related health risks to
consumers. A HACCP program maintains safety and wholesomeness of food products
because potential hazards that may occur during processing are anticipated,
evaluated, controlled and prevented. A hazard is defined as any biological, physical or
chemical property that could cause a product to be unsafe for consumption.
Processing plants are required to have a HACCP plan for each product. The general
steps for developing a HACCP plan are briefly described below.

Support of Management
The success of HACCP depends upon the behavior and commitment of all plant
employees to food safety. Management must provide financial and philosophical
support to HACCP because it demonstrates an awareness of the benefits of the
program. Employees will not take HACCP seriously if it does not receive visible support
from their supervisors and upper management.

Establish a HACCP Team

HACCP is a program for the entire company; therefore, a team of individuals from
different areas of production and processing should be involved in developing the
HACCP plan. The team must include individuals with specific expertise, such as
production, processing, quality control, sanitation, microbiology, plant engineering, and
research and development. This should make it easier to identify the hazards
associated with each product. A HACCP coordinator should be chosen to work with the
HACCP team and company management to develop, implement and manage the
HACCP plan.

Product Description
Plants are required to have a HACCP plan for each product they make. With each
HACCP plan, a complete description of the product and the raw ingredients that go
into the product are required. Some of the product description information that should
be listed for each product includes:
• Product's common name

• How the product will be used

• Type of packaging material
• Length of product's shelf-life, and at what temperature
• Where product will be sold
• Product's labelling instructions

3
 • Any special instructions for the product
An example of product description (for poultry plant) is shown in Figure 1.

Employee Training
All employees should be given HACCP training, but at levels relating to their
responsibilities within the HACCP plan. Extensive training of line workers is critical
because these are the individuals responsible for the product. Everyone at the facility in
contact with the products should receive an overview of HACCP, as well as information
regarding the companies HACCP policies and procedures.

Principles of HACCP and Implementation of a HACCP Plan

Once the HACCP team has been identified, the team should use the basic principles of
HACCP to design a plan. The basic principles of HACCP are listed in Table 1 and are
briefly described below.

Principle 1: Hazard Analysis.

The first step in designing a HACCP plan is to conduct an analysis of hazards
associated with each product. During hazard analysis, the HACCP team evaluates all of
the procedures concerned with production, distribution, and the use of raw materials
for potential problems that could occur. The HACCP team should list the type of
problem (biological, chemical or physical), and the appropriate preventive action
necessary to keep the problem from occurring. It may be useful to draw a flow diagram
detailing production steps from receiving to the consumer and to present the hazard
analyses in a table format (an example is shown in Table 2). Figure 1 shows an
example of a typical flow diagram for raw poultry; however, diagrams should be
developed to fit the unique conditions that exist in each plant. Once a flow diagram has
been developed, it is important to check it to make sure that it is correct, and that
steps have not been omitted.

Principle 2: Identify CCP's

The next and most important step is to determine the critical control points (CCP's) in
the process, or the points at which a loss of control could result in a biological,
chemical or physical health hazard. CCP's vary for different products, particularly if your
facility processes raw and finished product. In some cases, it may be difficult to decide
if a processing step is a CCP. As a result, many companies will establish too many
CCP's. A CCP decision tree, such as the one shown in Figure 2, can be used to identify
CCP's. CCP's should be noted on the flow diagram as part of the HACCP
documentation. An example of a CCP for a fully cooked product is the cooking process
because proper cooking eliminates pathogenic bacteria; however, after cooking, care
should be taken to keep the product from being contaminated again. While proper
cooking may be addressed in the plants standard operating procedures (SOP's), it is
also a CCP and should be listed as such. In raw products, pathogenic bacteria may be
reduced and their growth controlled using a well-designed HACCP plan, but elimination
requires additional measures.

4
Principle 3: Establish critical limits
Once the CCP's have been determined, a critical limit or the amount of acceptable
deviation has to be established for each CCP. Critical limits are set for product safety
and not product quality. For example, the critical limit for frozen raw poultry storage
and shipping would require the product be held below 41 degrees F, which does not
constitute frozen but prevents bacterial growth. In a cooked product, an example of a
critical limit would be that an internal temperature of the product reaches at least 160
degrees F.

Principle 4: Monitoring critical limits

All CCP's must be monitored to insure that the process remains within critical limits.
The HACCP team needs to establish methods not only for monitoring each CCP, but
also for determining the frequency of CCP evaluation. Monitoring methods should be
appropriate for on-line use and should provide a simple but rapid assessment. For
example, visual observations, aroma, and measurements of temperature, pH,
moisture, fat, etc. are commonly used to monitor poultry processing CCP's.
Traditionally, microbiological testing has not been used to monitor CCP's because
procedures are time consuming; however, with the advent of new rapid methods,
microbiological testing could provide valuable information within minutes.

Principle 5: Corrective action

In addition to monitoring CCP's, procedures should be developed to describe what
steps will be taken if the process goes out of control. The corrective action plan must
include: 1) who is responsible for regaining control of the process, 2) how to regain
control, 3) what to do with the product that was produced during the loss of control,
and 4) how to handle a product recall.

Principle 6: Record keeping

Documentation of a formal HACCP plan for all products is required. Detailed records
must be kept of data recorded at CCP's. Effective record keeping includes:
• List of HACCP team members and their responsibilities

• All records should be dated. All products and their intended use should be
identified
• HACCP flow diagrams with all CCP's
• List of all critical limits and preventive measures
• Monitoring and verification plans
• Course of action when a critical limit deviation occurs, and person(s)
responsible for corrective actions
• Procedures for product handling when deviation from critical limit occurs

5
 • Appropriate product packaging information and expected product shelf-life
• HACCP check off sheets for each shift which must be signed upon completion
of a step
• HACCP plan reviews, date of reviews, and reviewer's initials
• Records of all deviations

Principle 7: HACCP Verification

Once established, each HACCP plan will change as the company adds new products,
updates old products, installs new equipment, or changes product-handling
procedures. It is important to periodically verify that the HACCP plan is working.
Verification procedures may include:
• Routine check of all HACCP plans and records.

• Routine check of monitoring procedures and equipment.

• Random microbiological sampling of all product contact surfaces, as well as a
portion of the product.
• Official evaluation of product.
• Review of all critical limit deviations and product handling.

Conclusion
HACCP was designed to prevent hazardous products from leaving the manufacturing
or processing facility. However, the key to the success of HACCP is employee training,
behavior and attitude. Some companies are under the misconception that they already
have a HACCP plan because they are adequately controlling all areas where safety
could be compromised. The difference is that rather than monitoring isolated
processing steps, a HACCP approach controls the entire production process as an
integrated system.

Although HACCP provides insurance that product is safe, there is no way to completely
eliminate all hazards. HACCP is most effective when used with other control systems.
Total Quality Management programs or ISO 9000 and Standard Operating
Procedures should be used along with HACCP to improve product safety, product
quality, and plant productivity by providing intimate knowledge of the production
process, production environment and processing equipment.

6
Table 1. Principles of HACCP
Principle HACCP Steps
1 Conduct an analysis of the hazards in your plant. Make a list of all
processing steps where a hazard might occur.
2 Identify all critical control points (CCP's) in the process. CCP's are
critical to the safety of the product.
3 Establish a critical limit for each of the identified CCP's.
4 Establish CCP monitoring requirements.
5 Establish corrective action to be taken if the CCP deviates from
the critical limit.
6 Establish effective record-keeping procedures to document the
HACCP program.
7 Establish a procedure to verify that your HACCP program is
working.

Table 2. An Example of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (CCP) Assessment
Product Identity: Chicken Nugget
Process Step CCP Type of Hazard Critical Limits
1. Receiving raw Yes Physical (quality) Receive product only if <45
products Biological degrees F, no abnormal
(contamination) appearance or smell
2. Cooking Yes Physical (quality) Must be cooked to internal
Biological temperature >160 degrees F
(contamination)
3. Freezing Yes Physical (quality) *Must be cooled to a
Biological temperature <41 degrees F
(contamination)
*Note: Although 41 degrees F does not adequately freeze product, it is the limit for restricting
microbiological growth.

7
8
9