Another important piece of legislation is The Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995.

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1 The Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995 Another important piece of legislation is The Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations The food industry has to establish risk assessments as the starting point of food manufacturing responsibility for food hygiene and safety standards. Risk assessment in food terms means making an assessment of any risk to a food product during its production, including estimating what chance or risk there is of the product being damaged or incorrectly made. It is important to remember that Risk Assessment is thinking about what i) could happen ii) planning to prevent it from happening HACCP The system of risk assessment in the food industry is known as HACCP. HACCP stands for 'Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point'. It is an internationally recognized and recommended system of food safety management. It focuses on identifying the 'critical points' in a process where food safety problems (or 'hazards') could arise and putting steps in place to prevent things going wrong. This is sometimes referred to as 'controlling hazards'. HACCP is: a food safety management system a method for forming risk assessments a system where a whole company is committed to quality production. HACCP could be part of an important management system sometimes used by companies called TQM (Total Quality Management).

2 The HACCP System There are seven basic principles to in the HACCP system. Seven Principles of HACCP 1. Hazard Analysis A hazard is anything which may cause harm to your customers. There are three types of hazards: a. biological b. chemical c. physical a. Biological Hazards Biological hazards include food poisoning bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli and Bacillus cereus, which are hazardous because they can: survive inadequate cooking multiply to harmful levels in food given the right conditions spread from raw foods to ready to eat foods (cross contamination) b. Chemical Hazards Chemical hazards may be present on certain foods in the form of pesticides or cleaning residues. Chemical hazards may also arise from incorrect storage and misuse of cleaning chemicals or rodent bait. Chemical contamination can also be oil or paint from the machinery used to manufacture the food. c. Physical Hazards Physical hazards include contamination from foreign bodies like glass, wood, metal, hair, flies etc. 2. Critical Control Points (CCP s) CCP s are the stages of your process where the hazards must be controlled for the food being produced to be safe to eat. This is where the manufacturer sets up preventive measures. 3. Critical Limit Critical limits are specified safety limits at your CCP s, which separates acceptable (safe food) from unacceptable (unsafe food). To control each CCP target levels need to be in place e.g. the correct temperature for a cook chill cabinet is 0 5C.

3 4. Monitoring Monitoring procedures would need to be established to ensure hazards are controlled at CCP s. Examples of monitoring activities could include digital temperature displays on refrigerator displays, metal detectors on production lines, pest controls, taking regular temperature readings and logging the data during the manufacturing process. Digital temperature displays on refrigerators Metal detector 5. Corrective Action Corrective actions are procedures to be taken when monitoring (at CCP s) has identified that the critical limit has been or is likely to be exceeded. For example staff must know what to do if the temperature of a refrigerator rises above the required temp. Solving the problem is known as corrective action. 6. Verification This involves taking an overview of your HACCP based system to ensure it is working effectively. It is checking that the checks already done are true and effective at controlling your hazards. For example, Managers weekly food sampling would be a verification procedure. Reviewing or modifying the HACCP plan may be necessary as a result of verification. 7. Documentation/ Record Keeping A HACCP based system must have appropriate documentation to demonstrate it is working effectively. These will usually incorporate HACCP charts, work instructions, written procedures/policies, training records, monitoring records and sampling records.

4 Production Point Hazards Controls Buying ingredients Storing ingredients Preparation of Ingredients Cooking Decorating/ glazing/ finishing the product Packaging

5 A more detailed HACCP Template CCP/QC Process Hazard Risk Assessment Control Test Remedial Action

6 Review To ensure the HACCP is working effectively, it is important to review the food safety system at regular intervals. This may be when there is a change of menu, a complaint, a new product, a new premise or a visit from the Environmental Health Officer. It is good practice to review the system at least once a year. Further information can be found at look out for their logo too.