The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) method is, by definition, focused on identifying hazards which might result in consumers receiving harmful food products. HACCP was first utilized by the Pillsbury Company in 1959 to produce foods for the US space program. Since that time, HACCP has gained wide acceptance as the state-of-the-art control method for preventing biological, chemical and physical hazards from entering the human food distribution chain.
HACCP definitions and principles are based on the U.S. National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) HACCP System Guide. This guide is intended to assist food processors to prepare and manage a HACCP program tailored to their products, raw materials and processes.
The NACMCF Guide defines 7 Principles which are applied in sequence as follows:
Assess Hazards
Determine Critical Control Points (CCP's) for each Hazard
Determine Limits for each CCP
Establish CCP Monitoring
Establish Corrective Actions to be Taken When CCP Limits are Exceeded
Establish Record Keeping for HACCP system
Establish Procedures that Verify that the HACCP System is Working Properly
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) have promulgated regulations requiring the use of HACCP in the seafood, red meat and poultry industries. The FDA's seafood HACCP regulation was finalized in January 1996 while the FSIS final HACCP regulation is pending.
Taken from:HACCP,Retieved April 4,2007,from http://pera.net/Risk_HACCP.html