∑ a system is available to deal with unexpected emergencies, including
terrorism, sabotage, or the needto withdrawor recallfromsale or supplyany
batch of product, if that shouldbecomenecessary.
21.2.1 Effectivefoodcontrol
The other and complementarymajor component of GMP is effectivefood
control. Effectiveness requires:
∑ well-qualified and appropriately experienced food control management
participatingin the drawing up of specifications;
∑ adequate staffand facilities to do all the relevant monitoringof suppliers,
inspection,samplingand testing of materials,and monitoringof process
conditionsand relevant aspects of the productionenvironment(includingall
aspects of hygiene);
∑ rapidfeedbackof information (accompanied where necessaryby advice)to
manufacturingpersonnel,thereby enabling promptadjustment or corrective
actionto be taken,and enabling processed materialeitherto be passedas fit
for furtherprocessingor for sale as the casemaybe, or to be segregatedfor
decisionas to appropriatetreatment or disposal.
Thereare two schools of thoughton the relationshipbetweenfoodsafetyand
foodquality. One schoolholds that the two are separate and shouldbe controlled
separately;and in particularthat the preventiveHazardAnalysis CriticalControl
Point (HACCP)approach should be appliedonlyto hazards(someevenaver
onlymicrobiologicalhazards)to foodsafety. The otherschoolholdsthat if
quality' in this context resides in consistently fulfilling the specification embodyingthe requirementsof the law and the marketplace, thenfoodsafety is a critically essentialpart of quality and not a thingapart.Likewise if a hazard is defined asan intrinsicproperty of a system,operation,material or situation that
could in certain circumstanceslead to an adverseconsequence' (i.e. givingrise
to a risk),thenthe preventiveapproach of HACCP can and shouldequally be
applied to preventingthe risk of unacceptabledeparturesfromother defined
quality parameters. It followsthat ratherthan two separatefoodcontrolsystems,
one for foodsafetyand another for other qualityfactors, a single integrated food
control systemis desirable. This,of course, does not preclude,but on the
contrarydemands,within the foodcontrolsystem,specialists suchas food
microbiologists, foodchemists, sensory scientists, regulatory specialists, as well
as processcontrol technologists.
Thischapterfirmly adopts the latter schoolof thought. It is also the approach
adopted since 1998 by the BritishRetail Consortium'sTechnical Standard, now
furtherdeveloped and entitled `BRCGlobal Standard ± Food'.^8 Originally
introduced to eliminatemultiple audit by retailertechnical and thirdparty
technicalrepresentativesof foodmanufacturerssupplying UK retailers withown
brand products, it has gained much wider application and significant
international recognition for its content, formatand supportingsystem. Its
328 Handbookof hygiene controlin the foodindustry