IS HACCP ONLY APPLICABLE TO PROFESSIONALS? PART 1
What is HACCP
HACCP means,
the Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points.
It is a
system designed to improve manufacturing standards in food safety, hygiene and
traceability. HACCP is a system of prevention and not meant to check on
finished products. We can actually split the abbreviation HACCP into half.
Hazard
Analysis means, to analyze what the hazards are, and Critical Control Points
means, identifying where the hazards occur and take preventive measures to
avoid future occurrences.
Practicing HACCP in food
manufacturing
Practicing HACCP
involves an extensive flow of paper work, starting at the very beginning of the
manufacturing process until the product is ready for packing. HACCP is designed
to detect shortcomings in the manufacturing process that may have been practiced
without the knowledge of the manufacturer.
Practice is,
every single step an ingredient goes through during manufacturing is recorded
and must be accounted for. If during HACCP inspection by external inspectors
the manufacturer fails to explain the absence of record of one of the steps,
that step becomes a critical control point to be rectified.
Required steps to follow
An easier
understanding is made with a practical example.
Let’s say you manufacture
tomato sauce and you use canned tomatoes as an ingredient. You are not
responsible for the manufacturing of the tomatoes but you are responsible for
the purchases you make buying cans of tomatoes from a by you chosen trusted
supplier. Your HACCP record must therefore show:
1. Brand and supplier of the tomatoes
2. Delivery date
3. The date when you used the tomatoes (if not the total delivery, then how much of it)
4. In which production batch you used the tomatoes and when (a batch number must show that)
5. What you made with the tomatoes (in this example tomato sauce)
6. Identification of packing (retail or direct end user e.g. restaurant)
7. Where the batch went to and when (your customer)
Every step
of the procedure has a form and personnel responsible have to record the
required information on the forms. every form has again a number of details
that needs recording. From your storekeeper until customer service that
received the order of purchase.
Traceability
The whole
objective is to make a product traceable with this paperwork and for an
external auditor to be able, provided all parties involved follow the HACCP
system, to actually quickly find the source of an unwanted occurrence.
This
means that when a person becomes ill from eating a pizza in a restaurant with
your tomato sauce on it, the source and when and how this happened can quickly
be found to curb the possible recurrences of the mishap.
Many, often
too many steps in the food supply chain are not traceable. HACCP makes food
production safer and with that more people are getting a better understanding
of good manufacturing practices.
In part two
of this subject I have a look as to how we can apply HACCP in home cooking and
the function of a vacuum sealer in the HACCP process.
By: Marinus Hoogendoorn
