HACCP means Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point
HACCP controls food safety in food businesses, it does not focus on quality of food, nor health & safety. HACCP protects the consumer from unsafe food. HACCP is a system that helps food businesses to identify and manage hazards which are significant for food safety. An effective HACCP system can help to ensure that products are safe for consumption and generate the evidence to prove this.
There will be a HACCP plan in every business that works with food
HACCP looks at the following things:
- what your business does
- what risks or hazards your business has around food, what can go wrong to cause these risks
- finding critical control points (CCPs) in the business to help eliminate these risks or reduce them to safe levels
- deciding what you need to do if something goes wrong
- ensuring rules put in place are being followed and work properly
- record keeping to prove your procedures work
What are hazards?
There are many things that can make food unsafe to eat, these are split into 4 categories:
- Microbiological (bacteria & moulds)
- Physical (foreign body)
- Chemical
- Allergenic
If you are reading this, you probably work for a food business, whether this is a manufacturer, catering or food retail. What would happen if your food business sent our unsafe products? It could have a impact not just on the consumer, but on your business and also yourself. Therefore, HACCP protects not only the customer from potential harm, but also your customers, your business, financials, the brand and also your and your job!
Why do we need HACCP?
- Reduces the risk of food safety incidents
- Demonstrates legal compliance & due-diligence
- Required by customers
- Required by company policies
- Required by BRC
- Reduced costs e.g. waste
- Increased confidence of customers & enforcers
Is having a HACCP system a legal requirement?
The EU Regulation 852/2004 requires:
- A system based on HACCP principles
- HACCP training for you and your team
The law also needs you to have done your ‘Due Diligence’
‘Took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence.’
An effective HACCP system will help to provide a legal defence but
ONLY IF
records are completed correctly
What is a CCP?
This is a really important step for food safety. It stands for Critical Control Point. A CCP is a step in the process that we have to get right to make sure the food is safe. It’s the last step in the process where that hazard can be controlled.
Want to find out more?
We have HACCP courses from operator awareness (level 1) which we tailor to your company’s HACCP plans and CCP’s which is split into 2.5hrs training for teams of 12. We can train up to 3 sessions per day with a competency test at the end of the day, with certificate of attendance. The next step up is Level 2 HACCP – a 1 day course, up to teams of 12 which we provide a accredited Highfield examination for.
We also have level 3 HACCP and level 4 HACCP training, both in-house and open courses at regional training venues, find a course near you. We offer an RSPH certificated course for the Level 3, and Highfield for Level 4 HACCP. Also, test your knowledge with our HACCP Quizzes for Level 3 or Level 4 HACCP.
If your company has slightly different controls to standard courses, please ask us how we can provide a bespoke course to work around your own CCPs and HACCP plan. This course isn’t accredited however, we can provide the all materials necessary for audits to prove the training level. So, if you work in dairy, and have no cooking controls, a standard course may have too much emphasis on irrelevant parts of HACCP to your site. Why not streamline your training to focus on the parts you need to improve your team’s competency.
We can also help to audit your HACCP plan, with HACCP auditing training, just get in touch.
