HACCP Overview
HACCP is just a part of your total food safety management system, it is not THE system.
HACCP refers only to the procedures that lie within your total system. This is a common misconception and is regularly misinterpreted in many online articles and definitions.
The Food Hygiene Regulations Act 2006
Following recent harmonisation of EU legislation in January 2006, new regulations came into force. Essentially similar to the 1995 Act but with 2 new inclusions:
A Food Safety Management System must be implemented and records kept demonstrating compliance with the legal regulations. Businesses must identify steps critical to food safety & ensure adequate procedures are identified, implemented, maintained & reviewed using HACCP principles.
Food Hygiene Regulations Act 2006 states:
A proprietor of a food business shall identify any steps in the activities of the food business which are critical to ensuring food safety, and ensure that adequate safety procedures are identified, implemented, maintained and reviewed on the basis of the following HACCP principles:
- Analysis of Potential Food Hazards
- Identification of points where food hazards may occur
- Deciding which are critical to ensuring food safety
- Implementation of control & monitoring procedures
- Review of the above procedures
Hazard analysis critical control point
HACCP is a preventative approach to food safety management. It is designed to control significant food safety hazards. For example: hazards that are likely to cause an adverse effect on health when products are consumed.The 7 Principles of HACCP
Principle 1 – Analyse hazards. Hazards are either physical, chemical or microbiological. This stage is about analysing and categorising the potential hazards within the business, ie the things that may affect food safety. More on this later.
Principle 2 – Identify the Critical Control Points (CCPs) using a decision tree. A CCP is when you cannot do anything further to make sure the food is safe to consume.
Principle 3 – Determine Critical Limits. Set target levels and tolerances. A critical limit for cooking would be min 75 degrees centigrade for at least 2 minutes. A critical limit for fridge temperature would be maintaining 1-5 degrees centigrade.
Principle 4 – Design a Monitoring System. This is keeping a check on all critical limits you have set. This would be regularly checking fridge temperature to check it is within acceptable limits, or temperature probing the chicken to ensure it has achieved a core temperature of 75 degrees centigrade or more.
Principle 5 – Decide upon Corrective Actions. This is having safe well thought-out procedures for dealing with situations when the monitoring has detected that critical limits have not been achieved. If your fridge on monitoring is above the set critical temperature limit, how do you deal with the situation? Is it safe to continue to use the food stored there?
Principle 6 – Establish Documentation. It's essential to the safe working of your system that you have the necessary documentation and the system is 'live' ie you are routinely recording the results of the monitoring etc. In the case of the fridge this would be recording the temperature on a fridge temperature monitoring form 3 times a day.
Principle 7 – Verify and validate. This is undertaking an initial verification or check of the system once it is ready and complete (ideally with your EHO), then continuing to review your procedures every month, or when something changes, eg you get a new supplier or implement a new dish.
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