What is HACCP in the Food Industry and how to get HACCP certified?

An HACCP for Food safety management system which stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points is considered a risk analysis for the food safety sector with international recognition, which is used as priority in action and reduction of risks in the food process. The tool identifies the critical control points, so the control points and their respective actions are defined. Thus, the process can guarantee safety of the process regarding the industrialization and manipulation of food.

For assessing risks and establishing control systems, HACCP is an effective tool that focuses on prevention rather than relying mainly on final product testing. HACCP Certification serves different purposes, but is also complementary. The main focus of HACCP is the sanitation of facilities, equipment and products, all of which must meet government and municipal standards. As well as priority for companies in the food industry is HACCP certification.

An external certification authority grants the HACCP Certification that has the necessary knowledge and skills to undertake an assessment of the HACCP system. The food business should always ensure that the external or third-party certification body has the necessary qualifications to provide service.

Application of HACCP principles

The principle focuses on the records and documentation needed to show that all activities have been performed according to approved procedures. HACCP principles should meet the following criteria:

Identify the main hazards associated with the type of product produced and the operations carried out flexibility.

Identify those Critical Control Points (CCPs) / Control Points (CPs) necessary to control those hazards; it may choose to have in the plan only CPs which is legal requirements flexibility that pre-determined CCPs in the preparation, manufacturing and processing of food.

Establish legal limits against which to monitor the effectiveness of control measures at CCPs / CPs flexibility.

Monitoring CCPs / CPs flexibility: - may be a simple procedure such as a visual observation to monitor whether the correct de-hiding procedure is being applied during slaughter process.

Record the observations and corrective actions taken; the requirement of retaining HACCP documents needs to be flexible in order to avoid undue burdens for businesses.

Recording – in the case of visual monitoring procedures it can be acceptable to record results only when there is a problem and the corrective action that has been taken; that is, ‘exception reporting’.

Verify the HACCP-based procedures flexibility: – checking all aspects of the HACCP plan can be spread throughout the year so that all aspects are verified at least once a year to meet the requirement for verification.

Benefits of Implementing HACCP

Increased consumer or government confidence

Reduced legal and insurance costs

Increased market access

Reduction in production costs

Improved product consistency

Improved staff-management commitment to food safety

Decreased business risk.

To gain HACCP certification by a reputable certification provider such as Global Manager Group who provides HACCP Certification Documentation Kit to cover all the requirements of HACCP documentation. The HACCP documents follows CODEX guideline is designed accurately so that it can be used very effectively for educating vendors, employees, management, and food safety groups for the establishment of a food safety management system(FSMS).For food safety and HACCP policies and procedures, the food business is required to undergo an audit or assessment.

Source: foodsafetystandard.wordpress.com

Henry Nelson has published many articles regarding ISO Certification. Henry has rich experience as a online publisher and prepared various Certification documents as per ISO guideline since large amount of years in his professional career.