Foodand drinkindustry managers,foodscientists and foodtechnologists
recognise the specialresponsibilitiesof the foodand drinkindustries to make
available productsthat are safe'and consistentlyoffermaximumvalueand desirabilityto consumers and therefore to theirretailer customers. However, whatis meant bysafe'? Thereis no suchthingas absolute assuranceof absolute
safety.Hazardsaboundin everyaspect of life,and foodis no different. The
targetis to achieve absence ofunacceptablerisk or, to use a termborrowedfrom
the WorldTradeOrganization,`an appropriate level of protection'(ALOP).^8
Whatconstitutes ALOPis determinedby legislatorsin the formof lawsand
regulations. Moreover, regulatory requirements, apart fromcountry-to-country
variation, are not immutable and maythemselvesbe changed. Thereis, of
course,nothingto prevent a manufacturerseeking to achieve a higherlevelof
protection that the ALOPof the countryfor whichthe foodis intended.
In recent times, the Codex Alimentarius Food Hygiene Committee has
adoptedthe approachof science-basedrisk analysis basedon risk profiling
relatedto achieving ALOP.9,10
In brief,a RiskProfile describes:1) the pathogenand foodcommodity
combination(s)of interest; 2) the publichealthproblem; 3) the current
stateof knowledgeregarding relevant foodproduction,processing,
distribution, and consumptionpractices;4) risk assessmentneedsand
risk managementquestions;5) availableinformationand knowledge
gaps;and 6) a recommendationfor workand the typeof Committee
documents required (e.g.,risk managementcontrol guidance document,
codeof hygienicpractice,codeof practice,amendmentsto existing
Codexhygienetexts,establishment of microbiologicalcriteria or food
safetyobjectives).It is expected that the materialprovidedwithinthe
RiskProfile will proveuseful in furtherconsidering microbiological
risksduring the subsequentdevelopment of the proposed
microbiologicalrisk managementguidancedocument.For practicalpurposes, referencesto safety' andsafe'in this chaptershould be
interpretedas meaningachievingALOP'. It followsthat the foodor drink manufacturerneedsto ensurethat the manufacturingprocess deliversa product that achievesALOPwhileprovidingas effective freedomfromcontaminationas it is realistically possible to achieve, and while complying withrelevant regula- toryrequirements and also uniformlyfulfillingthe quality parameters (e.g. colour,flavour, texture, mouthfeel, freedomfromdefects and foreignmatter) built-into the product specification.It is in this widersensethat GMPwill be discussed in this chapter. This is the approach taken by successive editions of the IFSTFood and Drink ± Good Manufacturing Practice: A Guide to its
Responsible Management'.^7 Thisapproachis also taken in USAbut underother
terminologies.
The key is the word`management'.The components of GMPare summarised
in this chapterbut some are described muchmorecomprehensively in other
chapters. GMPis more thanthe sum totalof all thesecomponents.GMPis first
Goodmanufacturing practice(GMP)in the foodindustry 325