HACCP

There is growing acceptance throughout the EU and in many other countries of the value of HACCP principles in ensuring the microbiological safety of foods. The HACCP approach is a systematic way of analysing the potential hazards of a food operation, identifying the points in the operation where the hazards may occur, and where controls over those that are important to consumer safety can be achieved. Most of the product-specific EC directives as well as the Directive on the Hygiene of Foodstuffs (93/43/EEC), place obligations on industry and food business operators to adopt HACCP principles as the basis for their product safety management systems. The advantages of the HACCP approach over a food safety control system based purely on microbiological standards is now widely recognized. Thus, the Commission proposes to consolidate and simplify existing EC food hygiene legislation. These are expected to be implemented by 2004. The proposed consolidation adopts a unified approach to hygiene and extends the general hygiene rules and HACCP principles to cover hygiene throughout the food chain, including primary production, i.e. the ‘farm-to-fork’ approach to managing food safety. Responsibility of food safety will be unambiguously placed onto food producers. A fully documented HACCP plan will be required of all food producers, including caterers, regardless of size.

This will include a specific monitoring programme, thereby reinforcing the own-check principle of food producers. An absolute requirement for full traceability of all foods and ingredients used in food production is also introduced, such that all food producers must keep adequate records to allow full traceability throughout the products’ allotted shelf-life.