519Chapter 30
HACCP : Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point
Maria Jo ã o Fraqueza and Ant ó nio Salvador Barreto
Food Safety and Hazard Analysis
Critical Control Point
Food safety is one of the concerns and objec-
tives of the current policy of several develop-
ing and developed countries. It aims to
improve the life quality (increasing quality
and years of healthy life, and eliminating
health disparities) of their citizens and is
considered to be one of the challenging goals
for the twenty - fi rst century (COM 2000 ;
USDHHS 2000 ; WHO 2004 ; PAHO 2008 ).
Food safety has increasingly become a
current issue, owing to changing consumer
eating habits, changing products and produc-
tion practices, changing population (aging of
the population and the increased number
of immunocompromized individuals), and
increased food infections. In fact, the global
incidence of food - borne diseases is diffi cult
to estimate, but it has been reported that in
2005 alone, 1.8 million people died from
diarrhoeal diseases (WHO 2007 ). The prior-
ity is to reduce food - borne diseases.
In addition, in a global market, food safety
is a priority for food trade and is an economic
issue. Food trade growth and food marketing
changes lead to exposure to new risks and
greater potential consequences of food - borne
illness outbreaks. Consumers in industrial-
ized countries have become more aware of
the potential food safety hazards through
media reports and increased availability of
scientifi c knowledge. The challenge is to
develop integrated effective food safety
systems, essential to maintain consumer con-
fi dence in the food system, and to provide a
sound regulatory foundation for national and
international trade in food, in order to support
economic development.
In the past few years, there has been
some reinforcement for these efforts from
new legislation and regulations by interna-
tional food safety authorities and national
and international governments (examples
being the Codex Alimentarius standards
[FAO/WHO 2005 ], the General Food Law
[EC 2002/178 ], and all legal documents
based on the General Food Law [Trienekens
and Zuurbier 2008 ]), where there is a defi nite
move away from the old end - of - line pro -
duct inspection approach to a new quality -
assurance approach where the suppliers or
food operators in the chain assume responsi-
bility for safety. The General Food Law (EC
2002/178 ) provided a solid base upon which
further important food safety rules, such
as the so - called “ Hygiene Package ” ( EC
2004/852 ; EC 2004/853 ; EC 2004/854 ), were
then built at the EU level. The industrialized
nations are adopting a common approach to
food safety regulation.
Elements of this common approach
include use of Hazard Analysis Critical
Control Point (HACCP) methodology, farm -
to - table risk assessment, and greater use of
policies to create incentives for safety. In
several countries, new food safety regulatory
agencies have been created with the express
purpose of integrating and focusing expertise
from both agriculture and public health (EC
2007 ). These common trends should lead to