What is the first step in the 5 step Haccp plan?

HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points and this analysis is a science based and systematic process to identify possible dangers to health. The most basic concept underline HACCP is that of prevention. HACCP is designed for use in the entire food industry, from growing, processing, manufacturing, distributing and retail food for consumption. It is internationally recognized and particularly important not only to prevent foodborne illness, but also to reduce recalls and help companies save money.

HACCP was developed in the late 1950’s by the Pillsbury company, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Natick Research Laboratories. They build a quality system to ensure food safety for the space program. Then, in 1974, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) incorporated HACCP in the regulation due to outbreaks of clostridium botulinum in canned food. In 1993, the Codex Alimentarius Commission provided the first international definition for HACCP and in 2000, ISO 22000 was developed with major contributions to food safety management systems.

It is a vital element of a HACCP plan to be built upon a solid foundation of prerequisites programs, such as Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and Standard Operating Procedures. (SOPs). These programs provide the basic environmental and operating condition that are necessary to produce safe food. HACCP has become a global standard for food safety, while developing a HACCP plan is just a logical step by step process. It consists of twelve steps: five prerequisites and the seven HACCP principles. The five preliminary steps are:

1 Assemble HACCP team

The first task in developing a HACCP plan, is to assemble a HACCP team consisting of individuals who have specific knowledge and expertise appropriate to both, the product and the procedure. Individuals from areas such as hygiene, engineering, production, quality assurance, and food microbiology, who have working knowledge of the various processing steps and operations in the facility, who will be responsible for the HACCP plan.

2 Describe product

Identify products, foods, processes that must be covered by the HACCP plan. Then, the HACCP team should write a categorization of the types of potentially hazardous food that it covered.

3 Identify intended use

In this step, the HACCP team needs to describe the expected use of the food. The intended consumers can vary for each product. They may be the general public or a particular segment of the population, such as infants, the elderly etc.

4 Construct flow diagram

Develop a flow process diagram from receiving to shipping. The HACCP team would draw a flow diagram that shows all the steps and the production process, from receiving through shipping.

5 Verify flow diagram on-site

Verify the flow process diagram. The HACCP team does this, by having an impartial person do a walkthrough of the entire production process, checking and see if there is anything missing from the diagram or any changes and specifications needed.

Taking these preliminary steps lays the best foundation for designing an effective HACCP plan. Preventing foodborne diseases through HACCP plan does not only protect consumers from getting sick, but it could also prevent a catastrophic situation that could cause downfall of an entire company. 

What are the seven steps of HACCP - and how to comply with them?

What are the seven steps of HACCP and how to comply with them? How to boost your business with a modern digital HACCP system by Sensire.

Stefan Steinhoff

Jun 25, 2020

Temperature Monitoring Reducing waste HACCP Food safety

This article will cover the basic seven steps to HACCP compliance, necessary for your food business. Clearing up the gibberish and giving you an introduction to the concept.

HACCP is short for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points and is a globally used food safety management system. Its goal is to effectively prevent hazards from biological, chemical, and physical risks in all phases of a food's life cycle – from raw materials to consumption.

Initially, the concept was developed by NASA to ensure the production, processing, and storage of safe foods suitable for space. Since the 1960s HACCP has been adopted as the de facto standard for universal food safety and quality in the global food trade. As such, it has been introduced in the relevant legislation of many countries.

Let's go over the principles of HACCP to help set up your own plan.

The seven steps of HACCP

From your research, you probably know that the HACCP guidelines are based on seven basic steps. They allow us to identify, monitor, and control hazards that could endanger food safety in all segments of the food industry.

1. Conduct a Hazard Analysis

You need to investigate your process and identify where significant hazards to food safety are likely to occur. Hazards can be biological (bacteria, fungi), chemical (toxin) or physical (metal, glass). Each hazard's relative risk needs to be evaluated and you must come up with procedures to prevent, eliminate or control the risks.

2. Identify Critical Control Points

Critical control points are steps in your process at which control measures can be implemented and hazards can be prevented, eliminated, or reduced to acceptable levels.

You consider a step a critical control point when a hazard cannot be controlled at a later stage. The number of control points depends on your individual process. It is possible to control multiple hazards with one critical control point, or necessary to use several to control one hazard.

3. Establish Critical Limits

The next step is to establish critical limits for the control points. They present a maximum or minimum level which must be adhered to. Scientific research or regulatory standards form the basis for them.

Criteria for those limits often include temperatures, pH-levels, or visual appearances. Ideally, you should use some kind of alarm system for when a critical limit is close to failing.

4. Monitor Critical Control Points

Monitoring is essential to the effectiveness of your HACCP plan. It can consist of manual or automatic measurements and observations to confirm critical limits are being met. It has to cover limits for each critical control point. It's important that the methods allow for the quick application of corrective actions.

5. Establish Corrective Actions

When a deviation at a critical control point occurs, corrective actions must be taken. Predefined procedures come into play to prevent, eliminate or reduce hazards to an acceptable level. It is imperative to act swiftly to ensure potentially hazardous food is not released.

6. Establish Verification Procedures

Periodically, you need to review and verify if all established steps in your process are operating according to the plan. This may include a review of your records, machine maintenance, or checking that measures have their intended effect. Your HACCP actions must be effective to keep your food and customers safe.

7. Establish Record Keeping Procedures

The last, but not least important, step is record-keeping - a complete documentation of your plan and procedures. It shows that you have followed the proper procedures and that the food was handled in a safe manner (regulatory compliance!).

The records help you to analyze any possible problem areas and show how well you have been doing at preventing hazards.

HACCP – a stand-alone process?

HACCP can create the impression of being a stand-alone solution for food safety. But it's just one tool, built around other food safety and quality management programs. They work together to avoid and reduce food safety hazards.

These extra programs include Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), general sanitary practices, or personal hygiene programs. Even though they may not be considered critical, clean equipment or waste management is necessary for the effectiveness of your HACCP plan.

Quality management systems according to the globally recognized ISO 9001 standard are often used alongside HACCP. Following their guidelines, they help ensure the high quality of food products and their safety.

To make the HACCP implementation successful, commitment to the concept must start with the management. The leadership's dedication provides the necessary sense of the importance of food safety throughout the company.

This way you can show your ability to provide good food products that meet both customer and regulatory requirements. Let your business strive on safe quality products.

You might think about applying HACCP just to be compliant. But it will lead to a massive amount of paperwork and become a meaningless burden to your employees.

Digital HACCP – Escaping the paper madness

Your employees will do a number of checks required by the HACCP plan daily. Documentation of these procedures is crucial to food safety and the efforts of your HACCP concept.

While it seems tedious, you can streamline the whole process of checklists, monitoring, and reporting with Sensire's digital HACCP solution.

We believe that HACCP compliance should be easy and not a burden to you or anyone involved in food safety.

Digital HACCP ensures that all monitoring is done in the correct way and on time. In connection with the Sensire Cloud, you have all the information concerning your records available in one place.

It is an effective digital HACCP solution for following your HACCP plan.

How to get started with HACCP

Now we have given a brief overview of what HACCP is, what seven steps are required in a HACCP plan, and how digitization can help with the implementation.

Using an effective HACCP system is not just to fulfill regulatory requirements, but to make your food business successful.

We have prepared an introductory guide with some more in-depth knowledge about getting started with HACCP and its benefits for food safety:

What is the first step in a Haccp plan?

What are the steps for HACCP?

What is the first HACCP step quizlet?