Principles of Food Sanitation

a deviation from an established critical

limit exists. The action should include

the safe disposition of affected food

and the correction of procedures or

conditions that caused the out-of-con-

trol situation.

11. Establishment of procedures for veri-
    fication that the HACCP system is
    working correctly. Responsible com-
    pany personnel should conduct verifi-
    cation of compliance with the
    HACCP plan on a scheduled basis.


12. Establishment of effective record-
    keeping procedures that document the
    HACCP system and update the
    HACCP plan when a change of prod-
    ucts, manufacturing conditions, and
    evidence of new hazards occurs.

Steps 6 through 12 are known as the seven
HACCP principlesthat will be discussed later.
A food and its raw materials may be clas-
sified into categories as follows:

●Category 1. Risk assessment as accom-

plishedthrough examination of the food

for possible hazards.

●Category 2. Assignment of hazard cate-

gories through identification of general

food hazard characteristics.

Determination of CCPs is also part of the
development process. Not all steps in a
process should be considered critical, and it
is important to separate critical from non-
critical points. A practical approach to deter-
mining CCPs consists of utilizing a HACCP
worksheet with the following headings:

1. Description of the food product and its
   intended use.


2. Flow diagram with the following com-
   ponents:
   ●raw material handling
   ●in-process preparation, processing,
   and fabrication steps

●finished product packaging and han-

dling steps

●storage and distribution

●point-of-sale handling

As the flow diagram is made, it is easy to

identify CCPs. A CCP can be a location, prac-

tice, procedure, or process, and, if controlled,

it can prevent or minimize contamination. Crit-

ical control points must be monitored to

ensure that the steps are under control. Moni-

toring may include observation, physical

measurements (temperature, pH, Aw), or

microbial analysis and most often includes

visual and physiochemical measurements

because microbial testing is often too time-

consuming. Possible exceptions are microbial

analysis of the raw materials. Microbial testing

may be the only acceptable monitoring proce-

dure when the microbial status of the raw

material is a CCP. Microbial methods can be

incorporated to determine directly the pres-

ence of hazards during processing and in the

finished product. They can be used indirectly

to monitor effectiveness of control points for

cleaning and employee hygiene. Yet, this use of

microbiology is a check and does not have to

be an ongoing process. Critical limits must be

established for each monitoring procedure.

Monitoring must be verified by laboratory

analysis to ensure that the process is work-

ing. The HACCP concept has been effective

because:

1. Cooperation existed between the gov-
   ernment and industry to develop moni-
   toring procedures for CCPs.


2. Education of processors is required.


3. Use of HACCP is fostered by govern-
   ment agencies.
   Marriott et al. (1991) suggested that the
   following must be accomplished for HACCP
   to function effectively:


4. Food processors and regulators must
   be educated about HACCP.

The Role of HACCP in Sanitation 103