Food Standards and Quality Control

Food Standard and Quality Control

Lesson 30: Hazards Anaysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)

Implementing HACCP System

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.

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:

1. Product’s common name.
2. How the product will be used.
3. Type of packaging material.
4. Length of product’s shelf-life, and at what temperature.
5. Where product will be sold.
6. Product’s labeling instructions.
7. Any special instructions for the product.

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 seven principles of HACCP to design a plan.

Common pre requisite programmes for HACCP:

Facilities: Current good manufacturing practices in manufacturing, packing or holding human food must be adopted.
Production equipment: The equipment and utensils must be calibrated for precision control of unit operations during processing.
Standard Operating Procedures: These procedures are to be followed throughout the food chain to maintain the quality and safety of the product.
Storage and handling controls: Storage conditions should be strictly adhered to. The handling protocols must be followed to minimize the contamination.
Suppliers Control: Incoming materials like ingredients, food additives, packaging, cartons etc must be as per the prescribed standards.
Product specifications: We should develop written specifications for all ingredients, products and packaging materials. These are to be sent to the suppliers.
Personal policies: Policies and procedures for employees must be well spelt out. Regular trainings for GMPs, sanitation procedures, personal safety, and HACCP must be organized.
Traceability and recalls: There must be provision for the recalls of customers’ complaints handling.
Waste Management: There should be an excellent waste disposal system to maintain the hygiene.
Product Testing: There should be facilities for getting the product tested for different physico chemical and microbiological profiles.