A Short Guide to HACCP Plan
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1) The document provides a 10 step guide for completing a HACCP plan, including defining the scope of the plan, creating a process flow diagram, identifying control points and critical limits, establishing monitoring procedures, and documenting the plan, policies, and records. 2) Key steps include identifying food safety hazards at each process step, determining critical control points (CCPs) where legal limits apply, setting critical limits for each CCP, and establishing monitoring and corrective actions for CCPs. 3) Documentation is important for providing evidence that food safety hazards are being properly managed, and includes the HACCP plan, policies, and monitoring records like temperature readings and audit reports.
A Short Guide to HACCP Plan
- 1. 1 A SHORT GUIDE TO COMPLETING A HACCP PLAN HACCP is a recognised way of making sure that the food safety hazards in your business are being managed responsibly and showing that this is being done day-in, day-out. This Guide refers to a set of template documents that can be completed to reflect your business.
- 2. 2 A SHORT GUIDE TO COMPLETING A HACCP PLAN The aim of the following short guide is to help operators complete the HACCP plan template documents contained in both the Diary and in the Meat Industry Guide and is included at the end of the Meat Plant HACCP Guidance Pack. It is important that the finished plan (or plans, if there are several operations in the plant) accurately reflects the business’ products and procedures. Before completing the template documents it might be useful to look at the Meat Plant HACCP Manual, if help is needed to understand the seven HACCP principles. It would also help to refer to the HACCP Chapter of the Meat Industry Guide, particularly the generic HACCP plan which shows the type of hazards and food safety management procedures that may need to be included when producing the company HACCP plan(s). To produce a HACCP plan for your business follow these 10 steps: 1. COMPLETE THE FIRST PAGE OF THE HACCP TEMPLATE Enter details of: - the company; - the process to be covered by the plan (e.g. beef slaughter, mincing); and - the names of the people helping to produce the plan (HACCP team). 2. COMPLETE THE ‘SCOPE’ & THE PROCESS FLOW PAGE a) Describe the production process that the plan is to cover: - the start and end points of the process being covered; - the type of food safety hazards to be addressed; - the product and its intended use; - the customers and end users of the product; - how the product is to be packaged, stored and distributed; and - processing and safety information. Take time to discuss and agree the scope of the plan(s) with the members of the HACCP team.
- 3. 3 b) Complete a flow diagram (the step-by-step ‘life story’ of the production process) … … it is important to include: - all inputs into the process, e.g. packaging, labels, water; - intended delays during or between steps; - procedures that are operated differently by different work shifts; - the return of product to the process for re-work (even if only occasionally); and - all outputs from the process, e.g. offals, edible co-products. 3. COMPLETE ONE ‘CONTROL POINT IDENTIFICATION’ PAGE FOR EACH PROCESS STEP a) Identify the food safety hazards (biological, chemical or physical) at each process step identified at Step 2b above. b) Describe the control measures (good hygiene practices and operational hygiene procedures) that will control each identified hazard. Refer to the FSA’s generic HACCP plan for a guide to hazards, control measures and CCPs The list of process steps must be correct for the next stage of the HACCP process, so check that the list is complete and in the right order. It is very easy to make assumptions and miss out process steps.
- 4. 4 4. IDENTIFY CONTROL POINTS THAT ARE CRITICAL TO FOOD SAFETY (CCPs) While operators may decide on CCPs for their own operations, there are process steps in meat production at which legal requirements are laid down to control hazards, notably: Admission of clean and healthy animals for slaughter and dressing or acceptance of carcases and/or fit meat and any other raw materials for cutting and processing; Dressing, particularly hide/ fleece/ pelt / skin/ feather removal and evisceration, is carried out hygienically and carcases are free from visible contamination; SRM controls are carried out as required by the relevant legislation; and Temperature requirements for meat are complied with during storage, loading and transport. Each of these control points (and any other CCPs) will need at least one ‘legal’ or ‘critical’ limit, as well as monitoring and corrective action procedures to be sure that potentially unsafe food is not placed on the market, as well as records to show that these actions have been taken. 5. SET AT LEAST ONE CRITICAL LIMIT FOR EACH CONTROL MEASURE AT EACH CCP A critical limit is the highest or lowest value that is acceptable for product safety (e.g. time, pH, temperature). Critical limits separate acceptability from unacceptability or safe from unsafe food. They must be at least as strict as any legal limits. 6. SET OUT A MONITORING PROCEDURE FOR EACH CCP Monitoring is a set of pre-arranged checks that can show whether control measures are in danger of failing and trigger corrective action if needed. Decide and record: (a) How the monitoring of critical and/or ‘legal’ limits will be done; (b) When and how often the checks will be done; (c) Who will monitor (staff should not normally check their own work); (d) What and where information is to be recorded (see ‘Diary’ below); and Make sure staff responsible for monitoring and for recording results have clear instructions and understand what they must do if there is a problem.
- 5. 5 (e) Who will check that monitoring is being carried out properly and where and how this check is to be recorded. 7. FOR EACH CCP, ANTICIPATE ANY PROBLEMS THAT COULD POSSIBLY OCCUR AND DECIDE ON CORRECTIVE ACTIONS IN EACH CASE Prompt corrective action is evidence of operator responsibility. Decide and record: (a) What corrective actions are to be taken to: (i) restore control; (ii) deal with affected product that was produced while the process was out of control; and (iii)investigate the cause to avoid a repetition of the problem. Then decide: (b) Who is responsible for carrying out the corrective actions; (c) What information is to be recorded, where and by whom (see ‘Diary’ below); and (d) Who will check that corrective action is carried out properly and where and how this check is to be recorded. 8. VALIDATE AND VERIFY THE HACCP PLAN Verification means checking or confirming that the HACCP-based procedures are achieving the intended effect i.e. controlling food safety hazards. These checks are carried out: 1st Before a plan is implemented – called ‘Validation’, then 2nd After implementation – called ‘Verification’. Decide and record: (a) What validation and verification checks are to be performed and when – there are suggestions on the diary pages;
- 6. 6 HACCP Documents Examples include: the HACCP plan documents and any explanatory notes about the scope, process flow diagram, hazard analysis, control point and critical/’legal’ limit decisions, and the arrangements for monitoring, corrective actions, validation, verification review and any changes. Policy Documents Examples include the company’s good hygiene policies, procedures and staff instructions, such as those for completing the monitoring and corrective action records. Records Examples include completed checklists or Diary pages (see below) showing monitoring results; corrective actions; validation, verification and review checks. Includes temperature readings, calibration results, microbiological test results, customer complaints and audit reports. (b) Who is responsible for carrying them out; (c) What information is to be recorded, where and by whom; and (d) Who will check that validation and verification has been carried out properly and where and how this check is to be recorded. 9. DOCUMENTATION Your business’s HACCP-based system, hygiene procedures, checks and actions need to be written down to provide evidence for yourself, for your customers, and for official checks. Keep paperwork simple so it is easy to complete and keep up-to-date. Records should identify the person(s) who complete them. Smaller businesses can use the ‘Food Safety Management Diary for Meat Producers’ if there are no alternative record-keeping arrangements in place. See also Model Documents in the FSA Meat Plant HACCP Guidance Pack. FOOD SAFETY MANAGEMENT DIARY FOR MEAT PRODUCERS The diary can be used to keep important information about the hygienic operation of the business and provide evidence to auditors of the food safety management procedures. DAILY CHECKLIST – lists what checks need to be carried out by staff every day: - before production starts - during production - after production ends. DAILY DIARY
- 7. 7 You or another responsible person should sign the diary every day to confirm that: • opening, operational and closing checks have been carried out, and • hygienic procedures have been followed. • When checks are carried out once or a few times a day (e.g. on pre-operational cleaning, chiller temperature) - write down the result of each specific check. • When daily checks are more frequent (e.g. carcase contamination, product temperatures) the results – you need only to write down when there is a problem or something out of the ordinary happens. This is called ‘exception reporting’. • Record all corrective actions that have been taken. FOUR-WEEKLY CHECKS Look back at the last four weeks and note down any persistent problems or any significant changes that have been made and how you are dealing with them. For example, there may be a continuing problem with a piece of equipment, or a need to remind staff (or contractors) about cleaning or pest control procedures. There may be a need to carry out some training or to amend the HACCP plan because a new chiller has been installed. RECORD YOUR CHECKS. 10. REVIEW THE HACCP-BASED SYSTEM DON’T JUST TICK THE BOXES WITHOUT CARRYING OUT THE CHECKS!
- 8. 8 Review the HACCP plan(s) at least once a year unless this has already been done because of changes to products, procedures, legislation or perhaps, customer complaints or an audit report. If there are changes, the review should make sure that food safety procedures remain effective. The Review may indicate that aspects of the HACCP plan need to be changed, e.g. the scope, the process flow diagram, the technical data and hazard analysis, control measures, decisions on control points, critical legal limits, monitoring checks, corrective actions and records. RECORD THE RESULTS OF YOUR REVIEW. AMEND YOUR HACCP PLAN(S) IF NECESSARY. Using the HACCP process to manage food safety in your business will help you to: PLAN… what needs to be done and write it down; DO… what you planned to do to maintain food safety; CHECK… that you are doing what you planned to do to maintain food safety and write down what was checked and when; and ACT… to correct any food safety problems and write down what has been done about the problem and when.