Question

Explain two things about HACCP

Answer 1

HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points which is an internationally recognized preventative system for food safety. A Hazard Analysis is a science based systematic analysis to identify possible dangers to health while the Critical Control Point is a point or procedure where a control can be applied and a food safety hazard can be prevented, eleminated or reduced to acceptable levels. HACCP has been designed to imply on the whole food industry from producing, manufacturing, distributing and reatiling food for consumption. HACCP was developed in the late 1950s by the Pilsberry company and NASA. They built a quality system to ensure food safety for the space program and in 1974 was incorporated by FDA after outbreaks of clostridium botulinum and got the first international definition in 1993 by CODEX. Now, it has become a global standard for food safety. A HACCP systems requires the potential hazards or identifying controls in the specific process. This include biological, chemical or physical hazards. Any company can use this system to minimize food safety hazard in their products. The HACCP system must be build upon a solid foundation or prerequisite program such as good manufacturing practices and standard operating procedures. They provide the basic environmental and operating conditions that are necessary for the production of safe food.