What is HACCP and Why is it Important for your Business?
What is HACCP in simple terms?
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) is an internationally recognized method of identifying and managing food safety related risk within food businesses. These hazards, which can be categorised as biological, chemical, or physical are managed via the implementation of an HACCP plan through monitoring and analysing all stages of food production and distribution.
Where is HACCP used?
After originating in the 1960’s, when NASA, the Pillsbury Company, and the U.S. Army Laboratories collaborated together to provide safe food for upcoming space expeditions, HACCP has been adopted by food industries globally. In the UK implementing food safety management systems based upon the seven principles of HACCP has been a legal requirement for all food businesses since 2006, as stratified by Regulation (EC) No 852/2004. Although, the required thoroughness and complexity of the implementation varies dependent on business size. Thus, HACCP is implemented throughout the food supply chain from primary producer all the way down to the final consumer.
What are the advantages of HACCP?
All people are entitled to the expectation that the food they eat is safe for consumption. Foodborne disease is at best unpleasant, and at worst fatal. The correct implementation of an HACCP food safety management system allows your business to guarantee the safety and integrity of your products in a cost effective manner by mitigating the risk of foodborne illnesses and the the adverse effects it has on trade. Furthermore, following HACCP principles has been shown to improve overall food quality which leads to increased customer satisfaction, and an enhanced reputation for your business.
By promoting the correct storing, labelling, and using of food, the HACCP principles also minimise food spoilage which occurs in your business. As approximately 9.5 million tonnes of perfectly edible food was wasted in the UK during 2018 alone, and food waste accounts for 8% of total global emissions, reducing waste is one of the most impactful things food businesses can do to influence climate change whilst also reducing expenditure.
As previously stated implementing an HACCP plan is a legal requirement for all UK-based food businesses. Having HACCP processes which have been validated by a third party certifier therefore ensures you remain compliant with the law and avoid any government fines, closures, or expensive litigation battles.
Finally, with labour being one of the largest costs for any food business, having an efficient and productive team is vital both for your business’ performance and your finances. An HACCP plan has been shown to provide prompts and frameworks that improve overall staff efficiency and teamwork, increasing the productivity of your workforce.
What are the disadvantages of HACCP?
Due to the complex and in-depth nature of HACCP management systems, they often require technical, human, temporal, and material resources that may not be available for all business. This has been shown to result in incomplete HACCP systems being implemented and elevated food safety risks as a result. In order to combat this the UK government implemented Simplified Food Safety Management Systems, which negates some of these issues for smaller businesses by replacing HACCP plans with simple, business specific alternatives.
HACCP also requires the sincere effort and involvement of all elements in an individual organisation and the concentrated efforts of all participants in that food chain. This unfortunately means that one individuals noncompliance with the HACCP plan may undo the diligent work of many others. Regular and thorough monitoring by both internal and external parties, is thus absolutely vital, in order for areas of underperformance to be identified and improved.
In order for effective monitoring and validating of HACCP procedures to take place detailed technical data and information must be recorded in a simple and accessible way. With paper records being favoured by most of the industry, this poses a multitude of issues for establishments such the possibility for manipulation and other fraudulent activities occurring, and locating the space for necessary storage. The fact that constant updates need to be made to combat the evolving hazards can also complicate matters as physical records are costly and time consuming to update. Fortunately, the recent emergence of digital HACCP tools, such as apps and websites, can negate the majority of these issues.
How do you make a HACCP plan?
Within food businesses HACCP is implemented via an HACCP plan, a document that is prepared in accordance with the principles of HACCP, and outlines how to avoid and negate food hazards. However, before an HACCP plan can be implemented there are five preliminary steps that must be taken, further details of which can be found here
Assembling a dedicated HACCP team.
The first step in creating your HACCP plan is building a team of multidisciplinary individuals with specific knowledge and expertise appropriate to your business.
Describing the products and the process
For each specific product, comprehensive descriptions must be provided by the HACCP team.
Identifying the intended use and users
The HACCP team should identify the intended consumers of each product.
Developing a process flow diagram
A flow diagram, which covers all the steps that are directly under the control of the establishment, should be created.
Validating the diagram and ensuring compliance with sanitation requirements
The HACCP team should perform an onsite review of the business’ processes to ensure the accuracy of the flow diagram.
How many principles are there in HACCP?
There are seven principles of HACCP that ensure the safety of food products. Each must be consistently implemented as part of an effective HACCP plan.
Conduct a Hazard Analysis
Identify the potential hazards associated with food production at all stages, from growth, processing, manufacture and distribution to the point of consumption. Assess the likelihood of occurrence of the hazards (risk assessment) and identify preventive measures for their control (risk management).
2. Identify Critical Control Points
Determine the points, procedures and operational steps that can be controlled to eliminate the hazards or minimize their likelihood of occurrence; these are the critical control points (CCPs), A “step” means any stage in food production and/or manufacture including receipt and/or production of raw materials, harvesting, transport, formulation, processing, storage, etc.
3. Establish Critical Limits
Establish critical limits which must be met to ensure that the CCPs are under control.
4. Monitor Critical Control Points
Establish a system to monitor control of CCPs by scheduled testing or observations.
5. Establish Corrective Actions
Establish the corrective action to be taken when monitoring indicates that a particular CCP is not under control.
6. Establish Verification procedure
Establish procedures for verification which include supplementary tests and procedures to confirm that the HACCP system is working effectively.
7. Establish Record Keeping Procedures
Establish documentation concerning all procedures and records appropriate to these principles and their application.
What’s the best way to prepare for a food hygiene inspection?
The best way to ensure you are prepared for a food hygiene inspection is to constantly be reviewing and updating your HACCP plan. This allows your HACCP plan to evolve alongside the processes which are used within your business and for you to identify and address any areas of underperformance.
How to make sure you are HACCP compliant
In order to properly prepare for your food hygiene inspection, you must validate your HACCP plan. Validation involves reviewing what hazards and critical control points (CCPs) you have identified, what controls and solutions you have put into place, and how effective these are at minimizing hazards. Activities you will want to complete as part of your validation include:
All of your food storage, processing, and preparation equipment and machinery must be tested to ensure it falls within acceptable and safe operating parameters.
You should conduct random temperatures at various stages, from freezer and walk-in temperatures to final preparation. Additionally, any other data that you want to capture as part of the HACCP plan should also be collected.
You should review all employees compliance with safe food handling procedures across all aspects of food storage, handling, and preparation, from frequent hand-washing to taking proper steps to avoid cross-contamination of raw and cooked foods.
Recording and documenting data is essential to help identify any potential areas you might have initially overlooked and those that need to be modified. Therefore, you must confirm data collection is being recorded and documented appropriately.
Do you need a HACCP certification?
Having a fully-fledged HACCP system is not mandatory for all food businesses, but having a food safety management system based on the HACCP principles is. Alternatives to the HACCP system include systems implemented using Safer Food Better Business, CookSafe, Safe Catering, and other relevant national guides.
HACCP certification verifies that you have such a system and as such is a legal requirement for food businesses within the UK. Furthermore, becoming HACCP certified indicates to your customers that your business as implemented the necessary management systems to ensure safe food. As such nearly all food businesses need HACCP certification.
Why should you use digital HACCP?
Digital HACCP, the umbrella term for an emerging range of digital platforms and apps, allow businesses to move HACCP processes online and thus practice food hygiene easily and effectively. Using digital HACCP systems of data collection and retention provides a myriad of benefits when compared to the traditional paper-based methods.
For one, digital systems can readily support the level of detailed analysis required to assess the effectiveness of hygiene measures, analysis which can be time consuming and difficult to perform with paper records. This allows businesses to consistently evaluate the effectiveness of their food hygiene management systems and identify which processes require improvement, thus driving food hygiene to higher levels.
Key to maintaining these high standards is the constant evolution of HACCP practices to meet a business’ evolving needs. Altering forms and checklists can be a long, time consuming process with paper based records. However, alterations are simple, and occur immediately with digital HACCP systems ensuring that new processes can be added seamlessly to your HACCP system.
In many food establishments both space and time are precious, digital HACCP can save businesses both. With all forms stored digitally there is no need for cumbersome filing systems. This ease of access, where anyone, from anywhere, at any time can access them, when coupled with the automation of many laborious apps such as LEAFE can make HACCP admin processes 65% faster, thus saving your business up to 40 working hours per week.
The accessibility of digital HACCP not only saves time but also facilitates the training of food hygiene team members and allows the business owner to track all food hygiene checks/performances by venue and/or team member, ensuring that checks are completed punctually and correctly thus avoiding any potential for underperformance.