If you run a food business in the UK, then, by law you must have a plan based on the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles.
The HACCP plan keeps your food safe from biological, chemical and physical food safety hazards.
To make a plan you must:
identify any hazards that must be avoided, removed or reduced
identify the critical control points (CCPs) - the points when you need to prevent, remove or reduce a hazard in your work process
set limits for the CCPs
make sure you monitor the CCPs
put things right if there is a problem with a CCP
put checks in place to make sure your plan is working
keep records
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP)
How to manage the food hygiene and safety procedures in your food business.
HACCP is a way of managing food safety hazards. Food safety management procedures should be based on HACCP principles.
HACCP involves:
looking closely at what you do in your business, what could go wrong and what risks there are to food safety
identifying any critical control points the areas a business needs to focus on to ensure those risks are removed or reduced to safe levels
deciding what action you need to take if something goes wrong
making sure that your procedures are being followed and are working
keeping records to show your procedures are working
It is important to have food safety management procedures that are appropriate for your business.
Explaining hazards
A hazard is something that is dangerous. A food hazard is something that could make food unsafe or unfit to eat. It’s important you can identify those stages in your business when hazards could be present so they can be removed or reduced to safe levels.
There are three main types of food safety hazards:-
microbiological - involving harmful bacteria
chemical - involving chemical contamination
physical - involving objects getting into food
Food safety management procedures
You must develop your own procedures based on the principles of HACCP.
Businesses must comply with the legal requirements by following good hygiene practice.
The above are the key extracts from the Government's website. Most of us in the industry have a reasonably good understanding of everything mentioned, but this is a process and it's good to know the exact key points that we need to focus on. RuntheBox has significant experience in helping food business with HACCP and if you require any guidance or support we'll be happy to help.
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