HACCP stands for hazard analysis and critical control points. A food safety plan helps you identify potential hazards in your operation, determine the controls you need to prevent or minimize those hazards, and verify that those controls are working as intended. Using a HACCP plan makes it easier for your food business to identify, prevent and manage food safety risks in your production process. A CCP is any point in a process where something could go wrong (like spoilage) because of the way you handle food products.
Your HACCP Plan & Critical Control Points (CCPs)
A HACCP plan (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) is a system that dictates how you monitor, control, and track food safety from the time it enters your kitchen to the time it leaves your restaurant. In this article, we’ll discuss what a HACCP plan is and how it can benefit your business.
What Is a HACCP Plan? What is a CCP?
A HACCP plan is a document that outlines all of the critical control points in your facility. A critical control point is any step in food production where an error could cause foodborne illness or injury. For example: if someone dropped raw chicken on the floor and then put it back into storage for later use without properly cleaning or sanitizing it first, that would be considered an error at one of their critical control points because there were bacteria present on their hands or clothing which they transferred onto their other products while handling them—resulting in potential contamination when others consumed those products later on down the line as well as making them sick themselves due to ingesting something contaminated with bacteria like salmonella).
What is a Food Safety Hazard or Biological, Chemical or Physical Agent?
A food safety hazard is a biological, chemical, or physical agent in, or added to food that may cause illness or injury. Food safety hazards can be natural or man-made. They are present either in raw materials, ingredients, the environment, and/or the processing environment.
Food safety hazards can be a result of:
● The organisms (bacteria) causing illness through poisoning (pathogenic bacteria) and infections (non-pathogenic bacteria). These pathogens include Salmonella, E-coli and campylobacter.
● Poisonous plants like mushrooms that grow on trees as well as poisonous fish such as puffer fish contain tetrodotoxin which is lethal when consumed by humans with no antidote available to neutralize its effects once ingested!
Learn the basics of critical control points (CCPs).
Critical control points (CCPs) are points in the process where hazards can be controlled to minimize the risk of foodborne illness. These points are used to identify and control the most likely causes of foodborne illness.
CCP’s focus on prevention, not detection. They’re not a monitoring system; they’re a way of thinking about HACCP as something you do with your entire operation, instead of just at one point in time. That’s why CCPs are so useful—they help you look at your whole system, determine where problems might arise, and then take measures to correct them before they become an issue for consumers.
In the end, your HACCP plan is only as good as the critical control points that you choose to include. So, make sure to consider all of the factors that affect food safety when determining which points are most important for your business.
Critical Control Point (CCP) FAQs:
How are some ways pathogens such as salmonella controlled at critical control points?
Bacteria and other pathogens that are heat or cold sensitive are controlled during a “kill step” where food temperature or other factors like acidity are controlled. Learn more about kill steps.
What is the most common control used in a critical control point?
The most commonly used control in a critical control point is cooking.
What are some examples of critical control points?
Common CCPs include temperature control during cooking and cooling processes, pH control for acidification, allergen management, metal detection, and microbial testing.
How often should a critical control point be monitored?
The frequency of monitoring must be specified in the HACCP plan and should be based on the severity of the hazard, production volume, type of food, type of equipment used, etc. Generally speaking, CCPs need to be monitored at least once every four hours during continuous operations and after each batch processing.
Who is responsible for monitoring critical control points?
The HACCP team should designate who in the organization will be responsible for monitoring the CCPs. The person or persons assigned to monitor CCPs must have the necessary skills and knowledge to carry out their duties effectively.
What is required when a critical control point is not met?
If a CCP is not being met, the HACCP team should perform an immediate corrective action to address the issue. This might involve adjusting processing parameters or rejecting the product until it meets safety standards. The corrective action should be documented and reviewed by the HACCP team to ensure that no further hazards occur.
