concept has been embraced and recom-
mended for use by several scientific groups.
These include the National Academy of Sci-
ences (NAS) Committee on the Scientific
Basis of the Nation’s Meat and Poultry
Inspection Program and the NAS Subcom-
mittee on Microbiological Criteria of the
Committee on Food Protection. These two
committees recognized HACCP as a rational
and improved approach to food production
control that can determine those areas where
control is most critical to the manufacturing
of safe and wholesome food.
This technique, which assesses the flow of
food through the process, provides a mecha-
nism to monitor these operations frequently
and to determine the points that are critical
for the control of foodborne disease hazards.
Ahazard is the potential to cause harm to the
consumer. A critical control point (CCP) is
an operation or step by which preventive or
control measures can be exercised that will
eliminate, prevent, or minimize a hazard (haz-
ards) that has (have) occurred prior to this
point. The HACCP concept has become a
valuable program for process control of
microbial hazards. This approach is a har-
binger of the trend toward more sophistica-
tion in food sanitation and inspection. It has
been legitimized by governmental regulators
and is being adopted by progressive food
companies.
The HACCP concept is divided into two
parts: (1) hazard analysis and (2) determina-
tion of critical control points. Hazard analy-
sis requires a thorough knowledge of food
microbiology and knowledge of which micro-
organisms may be present, and the factors
that affect their growth and survival. Food
safety and acceptability are most affected
by: (1) contaminated raw food or adjuncts,
(2) improper temperature control during pro-
cessing and storage (time-temperature abuse),
(3) improper cooling through failure to cool
to refrigerated temperature within 2 to
4 hours, (4) improper handling after process-
ing, cross-contamination (between products
or between raw and processed foods), (5) inef-
fective or improper cleaning of equipment,
(6) failure to separate raw and cooked prod-
ucts, and (7) poor employee hygiene and
sanitation practices.
The HACCP evaluation process describes
the product and its intended use and identi-
fies any potentially hazardous food items
subject to microbial contamination and pro-
liferation during food processing or prepara-
tion. Then the entire process is observed.
Hazard analysis is a procedure for conduct-
ing risk analysis for products and ingredients
by diagramming the process to reflect the
manufacturing and distribution sequence,
microbial contamination, survival, and pro-
liferation capable of causing foodborne ill-
ness. Critical control points are identified
from a flow chart. Any deficiencies that are
identified are prioritized and corrected.
Monitoring steps are established to evaluate
effectiveness. The HACCP program, imple-
mented by the food industry and monitored
by regulatory agencies, provides the industry
with tools and monitoring points and is used
to protect the consuming public effectively
and efficiently.
The HACCP concept provides a more
rational approach to control microbial haz-
ards in foods than does traditional inspection
(Marriott et al., 1991). Although HACCP
was developed approximately 30 years ago,
this concept did not catch on with other prod-
ucts until 1985, when the NAS recommended
HACCP for food processing operations. In
later NAS studies, HACCP was recom-
mended for the inspection of meat and poul-
try products and seafood inspection has been
developed according to HACCP principles.
Although HACCP is the current trend in the
food industry, this concept may evolve to
become a part of a more complete program
for total quality management in the future.